Spychips RFID Blog

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January 5, 2006

VeriChip Corp's new competition - DIY chippers

Thanks to Steve for sending me this link to fascinating videos about a tech type who decided to implant an RFID tag in his hand: http://www.electric-clothing.com/chipped.html Warning: the pictures and videos linked at the site are quite graphic, showing things like metal rods being shoved under the skin and the suturing of slits and puncture holes.

The implantee and webmaster, Mikey, says he knows of more than sixteen other "midnight engineers" who have similarly chipped themselves, and he provides links to images of a few of those procedures, too. It seems there is some fascination with self-implanting tags not designed for human chipping, like animal tags, to do things like automatically open doors or access computers.

If you watch the link to the longer video interview with Mikey, you'll hear him acknowledge some potential medical risks associated with the implants. He raises the specter of cancer, for example. But I didn't hear any mention of concerns like potential MRI incompatibility, chip migration, or electrical hazards-- issues the FDA raised in a letter it sent when approving the VeriChip human RFID implant as a medical device: http://www.spychips.com/press-releases/verichip-fda.html.

Also absent from the discussion are the privacy and civil liberties implications of RFID implants--issues free-spirted individualists should take into consideration before plunging tags into their flesh.

Liz McIntyre

Posted by liz at January 5, 2006 3:13 PM

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Posted by: Sandra at January 7, 2006 9:38 AM

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