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Widespread Use Of RFID Chips In Humans
The doubters said it would never happen. They said we would never see the day when
RFID chips were implanted in humans on a widespread basis. Well, today
there are examples of this all over the world. One of the most stunning
examples recently has come out of Mexico. According to the Washington Post, "thousands of worried Mexicans" have
been having "satellite and
radio-frequency tracking products" implanted in their skin in order to
protect themselves against abduction
.
Radio-frequency identification (RFID)
is the use of a wireless non-contact system that uses radio-frequency electromagnetic fields to transfer data from a tag attached to an object, for the purposes of automatic identification and tracking. Some tags require no battery and are powered and read at short ranges via magnetic fields (electromagnetic induction). Others use a local power source and emit radio waves (electromagnetic radiation at radio frequencies). The tag contains electronically stored information which may be read from up to several meters away. Unlike a bar code, the tag does not need to be within line of sight of the reader and may be embedded in the tracked object.
RFID tags are used in many industries. An RFID tag
attached to an automobile during production can be used to track its progress
through the assembly line. Pharmaceuticals can be tracked through warehouses. Livestock and pets may have tags injected,
allowing positive identification of the animal.
Since RFID tags can be attached to clothing,
possessions, or even implanted within people, the possibility
of reading personally-linked information without consent has raised privacy
concerns.
Privacy
"How would you like it if, for instance, one day you
realized your underwear was reporting on your whereabouts?"California State SenatorDebra Bowen,
at a 2003 hearing
The use of RFID technology has engendered
considerable controversy and even product boycotts by
consumer privacy advocates. Consumer privacy experts Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre are two prominent critics
of the "spychip" technology. The two main privacy concerns
regarding RFID are:
Since the owner of an item will not necessarily be
aware of the presence of an RFID tag and the tag can be read at a distance
without the knowledge of the individual, it becomes possible to gather sensitive
data about an individual without consent.
If a tagged item is paid for by credit card or in
conjunction with use of a loyalty
card, then it would be possible to indirectly deduce the identity of the
purchaser by reading the globally unique ID of that item (contained in the RFID
tag).
This is only true if the person doing the watching also had access to the
loyalty card data and the credit card data, and the person with the equipment
knows where you are going to be.
Most concerns revolve around the fact that RFID
tags affixed to products remain functional even after the products have been
purchased and taken home and thus can be used for surveillance and
other purposes unrelated to their supply chain inventory functions.
The RFID Network proved
these fears to be unfounded in the premier episode of their syndicated cable TV
series by having RF engineers show how RFID technology really works. RF
engineers drove an RFID-enabled van around a building and tried to take an
inventory of items inside. They also explored if a passive RFID tag can be
tracked from satellite.
The concerns raised by the above may be addressed
in part by use of the Clipped Tag. The Clipped Tag is an RFID tag designed to
increase consumer privacy. The Clipped Tag has been suggested by IBM researchers Paul
Moskowitz and Guenter Karjoth. After the point of sale, a consumer may
tear off a portion of the tag. This allows the transformation of a long-range
tag into a proximity tag that still may be read, but only at short range – less
than a few inches or centimeters. The modification of the tag may be confirmed
visually. The tag may still be used later for returns, recalls, or recycling.
However, read range is both a function of the
reader and the tag itself. Improvements in technology may increase read ranges
for tags. Having readers very close to the tags makes short range tags
readable. Generally, the read range of a tag is limited to the distance from
the reader over which the tag can draw enough energy from the reader field to
power the tag. Tags may be read at longer ranges than they are designed for by
increasing reader power. The limit on read distance then becomes the
signal-to-noise ratio of the signal reflected from the tag back to the reader.
Researchers at two security conferences have demonstrated that passive
Ultra-HighFID tags normally read at ranges of up to 30 feet, can be read at
ranges of 50 to 69 feet using suitable equipment.
In January 2004 privacy advocates from CASPIAN and
the German privacy group FoeBuD were
invited to the METRO Future Store in Germany, where an
RFID pilot project was implemented. It was uncovered by accident that METRO
"Payback" customer loyalty
cards contained RFID tags with customer IDs, a fact that was disclosed
neither to customers receiving the cards, nor to this group of privacy
advocates. This happened despite assurances by METRO that no customer
identification data was tracked and all RFID usage was clearly disclosed.
During the UN World Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS) between the 16th to 18 November 2005, founder of the free software movement, Richard
Stallman, protested the use of RFID security cards by covering his card
with aluminum foil.
In 2004–2005 the Federal Trade Commission Staff
conducted a workshop and review of RFID privacy concerns and issued a report
recommending best practices.
RFID was one of the main topics of 2006 Chaos Communication Congress (organized
by the Chaos Computer Club in Berlin) and
triggered a big press debate. Topics included: electronic passports, Mifare
cryptography and the tickets for the FIFA World Cup 2006. Talks showed how the
first real world mass application of RFID technology at the 2006 FIFA Soccer
World Cup worked. Group monochrom staged a special 'Hack RFID' song.
Zeitgeist The Movie presented RFID chips
as a negative technology, theorizing that they will one day be used to track
the world population and keep them under control.
Government
control
With the rise of technology, some individuals have
grown to fear the loss of rights due to RFID human implantation.
By early 2007, Chris Paget of San
Francisco, California, showed that RFID information can be pulled from
individuals by using only $250 worth of equipment. This supports the claim that
with the information captured, it would be relatively simple to make
counterfeit passports.
According to ZDNet, critics believe that this
technology will lead to tracking individuals every movement and will be an
invasion of privacy. Some conceptualize a future where every movement is
tracked by the government. In the book Spy Chips: How Major Corporations
and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move by Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre, one is encouraged to
"imagine a world of no privacy. Where your every purchase is monitored and recorded in a database and your every belonging is numbered. Where someone many states away or perhaps in another country has a record of everything you have ever bought. What's more, they can be tracked and monitored remotely".
Deliberate destruction of RFIDs in clothing and
other items
According to an RSA laboratories FAQ, RFID tags can
be destroyed by a standard microwave oven; however some types of RFID tags,
particularly those constructed to radiate using large metallic antennas (in
particular RF tags and EPC tags), may catch fire if subjected
to this process for too long (as would any metallic item inside a microwave
oven).
This simple method cannot safely be used to deactivate RFID features in
electronic devices, or those implanted in living tissue, because of the risk of
damage to the "host". However the time required is extremely short (a
second or two of radiation) and the method works in many other non-electronic
and inanimate items, long before thermal buildup (fire) problems become of
concern.
The motive behind the RFID tagging appears largely financial. [1]
Like most state-financed schools, the district’s budget is tied to
average daily attendance. If a student is not in his seat during morning roll
call, the district doesn’t receive daily funding for that pupil because the
school has no way of knowing for sure if the student is there.
But with the RFID tracking, students not at their desks but tracked on
campus are counted as being in school that day, and the district receives its
daily allotment for that student.
Tagging school children with RFID chips is uncommon, but not new. A
federally funded preschool in Richmond, California, began embedding RFID chips
in students’ clothing in 2010. And an elementary school outside of Sacramento,
California, scrubbed a plan in 2005 amid a
parental uproar. And a Houston, Texas, school district began using the
chips to monitor students on 13 campuses in 2004 for the same reasons the
Northside Independent School District implemented the program. Northside is
mulling adopting the program for its other 110 schools.
Judge Garcia gave the girl until the end of the semester, January 18,
to say whether she will wear the badge or transfer to another school.
How is RFID used inside a living body?
RFID devices that are intended to be implanted
inside a living body (like an animal or human being) have special requirements.
They need to be encased in a special kind of casing that will not irritate or
react with the living tissues that they are inserted into. The casing must also
be transparent to the scanning radio-frequency beam that activates the chip.
Some RFID vendors have created biocompatible glass for use in these
applications.
One potential problem with being placed within a
living organism is that the tiny RFID device may move around under the skin.
This can be avoided by using special materials that actually let the
surrounding tissue grow up to the casing and bond with it.
Because the radio-frequency waves that activate the
microchip containing the identification number are only useful within a few
feet (or less), the RFID chip is typically inserted very close to the surface
of the skin.
The placement of the device is usually done with a
hyperdermic-type needle. This method of insertion also dictates the shape and
size of the device; implantable RFID devices are typically the size and
diameter of a grain of rice. For dogs, the device is usually implanted between
the shoulder blades.
RFID tags have been placed inside cows; some
discussion of having all cows implanted with RFID devices has resulted from the
recent scare with mad cow disease. Dog owners have used RFID tags to identify
their pets rather than tattoos (the more traditional method).
RFID tags, like the VeriChip tag, can also be
implanted inside human beings.
See VeriChip
RFID Tag Patient Implant Badges Now FDA Approved for more information.
Index of related articles:
- What is RFID?
- How RFID Works
- How is RFID used inside a living body?
- What can RFID be used for?
- Is RFID Technology Secure and Private?
- Are There Concerns About How RFID Will Be Used? (Update)
- Next-Generation Uses of RFID?
- What Are Zombie RFID Tags?
- Problems With RFID
- RFID Information Technology Articles
- Advantages of RFID Versus Barcodes
- RFID Glossary
- Contactless Credit Card Advantages
- Contactless Credit Card Disadvantages
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Medical Xpress) -- The Food and Drug Administration
in the United States has approved a request by Proteus Digital Health to allow for the inclusion of tiny
digestible microchips into medicines to assist health care workers in
monitoring intake of medicines by patients. Previously, the FDA had allowed
such microchips only in placebo products. Proteus, the maker of the chips,
plans to market them to drug manufactures who can then imbed them in
individual pills that allow for electronic reporting to doctors letting them
know if and when patients take their medicines.
Read more at: HERE
The microchip, which is described as about the size of a grain of sand, is made of copper, magnesium and silicon, reacts with stomach juices when swallowed along with a pill. Upon reaction, it sends a signal to a patch the patient has applied to their skin where it is relayed to a smartphone. The smartphone then relays the information to the doctor’s office, allowing physicians to track how well a patient adheres to instructions on when and how often they are to take their meds. Proteus insists the aim is not to prod doctors and nurses into becoming nagging nannies, but to provide information that allows doctors to modify the types of medications they prescribe and the schedules to which the patients are asked to follow. Once the microchip has done its job, it dissolves and passes out of the body along with other digested food. The new technology is being pushed forward by recent reports that have found that just half of all patients take their medicines the way they are supposed to, which of course can reduce their effectiveness. Proteus believes some patients can benefit more than others from the microchips, such as those that take medicines to ward off tuberculosis, diabetics and elderly patients who have difficulty remembering to take their pills or if they’ve already taken them. Making things even more difficult, some have a whole list of pills with different schedules for each. The next logical step would of course be to allow the patient access to the data or to have it routed to a device set near where they keep their medicine, which would both alert them when it’s time to take their meds and to let them know if they can’t remember if they took them or not. Some suggest this move by the FDA is the first of many likely to come over the next few years, as other technology is waiting in the wings. Coming soon may be swallowed or implanted devices that dose us automatically, sensors that report on other bodily activities, or devices that swim around in our bloodstream monitoring conditions and cleaning out plaque deposits. More information: proteusdigitalhealth.com/ © 2012 Medical Xpress
Read more at: HERE
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