| VII. | Relationship between Pet Microchip Implants and Human Microchip Implants |
| Posted: November 12, 2003 |
| A. | "Calling the Future": Location of Children As Well As Pets Monitored: Reuters on ABCNEWS.com: October 5, 1999 |
| Looking toward future possibilities, a Reuters article on ABCNEWS.com considers a scenario in which a "phone connected to the house is something quaint that we'll tell our children about." The article summary states, "Computer chips under one's skin, phone devices that turn on appliances, and phone numbers given out at birth may be future trends." The article contemplates a future where "Homes will have computers and phones that could...monitor the location of pets and children..." |
| [QUOTE] | Homes will have computers and phones that could check appliances and schedule their repair, monitor the location of pets and children, or call the grocer when the milk runs out... |
| Each person may be assigned a phone number-or communications number-at birth that will stay with them for life. It may be technologically possible in the future to embed a computer chip under one's skin as a link to communications networks and one another, though society may be slow to embrace such advances. |
| "A phone connected to the house is something quaint that we'll tell our children about. A phone number per dwelling is an antique idea," said Pat Morreale, an associate professor of computer science at the Stevens Institute in New Jersey and director of the Advanced Telecommunications Institute. "A phone number per person is the future."210[UNQUOTE] |
| B. | Pet Microchips Critiqued: Memphis, TN: "A First Step toward...666" |
| In a July 10, 2000, Scripps Howard News Service article, Mary Deibel reported: |
| [QUOTE] | But chips aren't without critics. The city council in Memphis, Tenn., recently backed off requiring all licensed pets to get chips or collar IDs partly because of price. But it was partly over philosophical differences, after council Chairwoman Barbara Swearengen Holt asked if chips could be "a first step toward what the Bible talks about, with people marked with 666." |
| For those uneasy with chips, pet-locator Web sites have started to operate.211[UNQUOTE] |
| C. | WorldNetDaily: Animal Electronic Chips Modified for Human Use: August 7, 2000 |
| An August 7, 2000 WorldNetDaily story stated that: |
| [QUOTE] | While the animal microchip implant has existed for over 10 years, new technology employed in these electronic chips has also been modified for human use. As WorldNetDaily has reported, a device called the Digital Angel® is a human implant whose manufacturer claims it has the capacity for everything from monitoring organ functions to user identification for e-commerce. |
| One of the touted applications for the Digital Angel® is strikingly similar to pet-tracking -- namely, tracking lost or kidnapped people. |
| "Ideally, the device will bring peace of mind and an increased quality of life for those who use it, and for their families, loved ones, and associates who depend on them critically," states the "Digital Angel¨'s patent. "Adults who are at risk due to their economic or political status, as well as their children who may be at risk of being kidnapped, will reap new freedoms in their everyday lives by employing the device." |
| While privacy and morality concerns have been raised regarding the use of microchip implants in humans, no opposition has been voiced for what is being described as "electronic pet tags."212[UNQUOTE] |
| D. | Declan McCullagh's Politech: "First Pets, Then Humans!": February 14, 2001 |
| A bill, introduced on February 14, 2001 in the California State Senate, was months later not adopted. Declan McCullagh provided an introduction on March 15, 2001 to news coverage of this bill shortly after the time of its initial presentation to the Senate. This introduction touches on the relationship between microchipping pets and humans. |
| [QUOTE] | [I'll include some news coverage below. Pet microchips have been around since the 1980s, as you'll see, but requiring them through force of law seems to be a new -- and incomprehensibly bizarre -- idea. "First pets, then humans!" --Declan]213[UNQUOTE] |
| E. | Wired News: Privacy: "Twenty Years from Now, They'll Want to Chip Infants": March 15, 2001 |
| The full text of a March 15, 2001 Wired News article by Julia Scheeres that had been excerpted in Declan McCullagh's Politech includes the comments: |
| [QUOTE] | Privacy was a concern for one pet owner. |
| "I just don't like the idea of another government database having my personal information in it," said Kate Jimenez, a Lompoc housewife who owns two dogs and three cats. "It's just one more way of registering people. Twenty years from now, they'll want to chip infants before they leave the hospital."214[UNQUOTE] |
| F. | Human Microchip Implantation Far Behind That in Pets?: Associated Press: February 27, 2002 |
| An Associated Press article links a historical overview of microchip implantation in pets to the idea of future human microchip implantation. |
| [QUOTE] | Microchip implantation has been around since the 1980s but was relatively rare until the mid-1990s, when chipmakers introduced a universal scanner that could read every model. |
| Scanners are now found in most shelters and animal control agencies across the country, according to Mary Madsen, a customer service supervisor for AVID Identification Systems Inc... |
| Could human microchip implantation be far behind? |
| Some say it's inevitable. A British researcher had a chip in his arm for nine days in 1998, and U.S. researchers say a chip attached to the retina could someday give blind patients the ability to see. Chips could also be used to carry medical information or criminal history, raising privacy concerns. |
| But for now it's Rover who has the chip in his shoulder.215[UNQUOTE] |
| G. | VeriChip Similar to 25 million Chips Embedded in Animals All Over the World; The Boston Globe: May 20, 2003 |
| Boston Globe Correspondent Angela Swafford reported that, "The VeriChip is similar to the more than 25 million chips already embedded in animals all over the world..." |
| [QUOTE] | But critics see surveillance technology like the VeriChip as a growing threat, giving potentially dangerous new power to businesses and government alike. In a report issued in January by the American Civil Liberties Union, Jay Stanley and Barry Steinhardt warned that an explosion of technology has already created a "surveillance monster." |
| "Scarcely a month goes by in which we don't read about some new high-tech way to invade people's privacy, from face recognition to implantable microchips, data mining, DNA chips, and even 'brain wave fingerprinting,' " they wrote. "The fact is there are no longer any technical barriers to the Big Brother regime portrayed by George Orwell [in his novel '1984']." The VeriChip is similar to the more than 25 million chips already embedded in animals all over the world acting as "pet passports," allowing customs officials to monitor those animals that do not need to go into quarantine, or to identify your stray dog.216[UNQUOTE] |