US group implants electronic tags in
workers
By Richard Waters in San Francisco
Published: February 12 2006 22:02 | Last updated: February 12 2006
22:02
An Ohio company has embedded silicon chips in two of its employees
- the first known case in which US workers have been tagged
electronically as a way of identifying them.
CityWatcher.com, a private video surveillance company, said it was
testing the technology as a way of controlling access to a room
where it holds security video footage for government agencies and
the police.
Embedding slivers of silicon in workers is likely to add to the
controversy over RFID technology, widely seen as one of the next
big growth industries.
RFID chips inexpensive radio transmitters that give off a unique
identifying signal have been implanted in pets or attached to
goods so they can be tracked in transit.
There are very serious privacy and civil liberty issues of having
people permanently numbered, said Liz McIntyre, who campaigns
against the use of identification technology.
But Sean Darks, chief executive of CityWatcher, said the
glass-encased chips were like identity cards. They are planted in
the upper right arm of the recipient, and read by a device
similar to a cardreader.
Theres nothing pulsing or sending out a signal, said Mr Darks,
who has had a chip in his own arm. Its not a GPS chip. My wife
cant tell where I am.
The technologys defenders say it is acceptable as long as it is
not compulsory. But critics say any implanted device could be used
to track the wearer without their knowledge.
VeriChip the US company that made the devices and claims to have
the only chips that have been approved by the Food and Drug
Administration said the implants were designed primarily for
medical purposes.
So far around 70 people in the US have had the implants, the
company said.