It is happening in my own back yard now.

Jenny


HOUSTON SCHOOLKIDS TAGGED AND TRACKED LIKE INVENTORY

by Katherine Albrecht, CASPIAN Director

Why do creepy RFID initiatives seem to gravitate to Texas, even though Texans are among the most privacy and freedom-loving people in the nation? The latest assault involves the children of the Spring Independent School District, just north of Houston, where 28,000 students will soon be issued RFID badges that will track them as they get on and off school buses.

Apparently, RFID reader devices in the buses scan the kids and send their data across town to police and school officials. (Excuse me, did read that right? Police?!?) Of course, since the kids could lose or trade their cards, some bright bulbs are already considering RFID implants as a more secure alternative.

Despite the fact that no child has ever been lost or abducted in the Spring district, students are being RFID tagged "just in case" (and at a considerable cost, too).

This program, if allowed to continue, would mark a disastrous turn for privacy and civil liberties in this country and set a terrible precedent. The tracking of school children is especially loathsome, since not only are kids a captive audience (in this regard, public school students are second only to prisoners and the military), but they are not old enough to vote out the perpetrators -- or even to take their grievances against them to a court of law.

The program's impact on kids is summed up in the words of a 15-year-old, quoted as saying the program "makes me feel kind of like an animal." Is this how we, as a society, actually plan to treat the next generation of Americans? Are we really so intent on numbering, watching, and dehumanizing kids that we will ignore the impact of our technology on their independence and psychological wellbeing?

Kids must rely on adults to let them know what is and isn't appropriate in a free society. We adults, who are older and wiser and know the historical dangers of unchecked government power, have an obligation to look out for their interests. We must take a stand to protect our kids -- and indeed, ourselves -- from the busybodies who would have us all under lock and key (for our own safety, of course) the moment we let our guard down.

CASPIAN has many committed, freedom-loving members in the Houston area. If you wonderful folks want to plan a time and a date to rally to these kids' defense, CASPIAN will get the word out to the media and spread the message around the world not to mess with Texas. (And especially not its kids!)

Write us at Houston@nocards.org if you want to take a stand.
Source: New York Times via CNET, November 17, 2004
http://news.com.com/In+Texas,+28,000+students+test+an+electronic+eye/2100-1039_3-5456061.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/6etrq

CASPIAN NEWSLETTER, 11/19/04:
http://tinyurl.com/4fzan

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Nov2004/Burstyn1116.htm
.........NO!!!!!!...cherokee

Dissident Voice - Santa Rosa,CA,USA

... Applied Digital Solutions, the company making the chips say it will save lives and limit injuries from errors in medical treatment...

See all stories on this topic:
http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&num=30&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Nov2004/Burstyn1116.htm

Students at the Shoemaker Elementary School last week kicked off the largest child identification project in history, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). As part of the event, a Shoemaker student was named the 200,000th child to undergo identification as part of the CHIP Program. The Grand Lodge of Masons helped provide ID kits for 400 kids and their families last Friday. The Masons will conduct a school CHIP event every four to five weeks, offering the service to all 14,000 students in the Lynn Public Schools. The undertaking will take three years and is fully funded by the Masons.

Children and their families participating in CHIP receive directly - with no other copies made - an identification kit comprised of fingerprints, a toothprint impression and a DNA cheek swab sample, all conducted by licensed professionals, along with an in-depth and detailed videotape of a question and answer session with their child.

http://www.thedailyitemoflynn.com/news/view.bg?articleid=7577


From:
Aftermath News
Top Stories - November 15th, 2004

brave new world

A Chip in Your Shoulder
Should I get an RFID implant?

By Josh McHugh
Posted Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2004, at 3:25 PM PT

Last month, the FDA approved an implantable, rice-grain-sized microchip for use in humans. The tiny subcutaneous RFID chip, made by a company called VeriChip, is being marketed as a lifesaving device. If you're brought to an emergency room unconscious, a scanner in the hospital doorway will read your chip's unique ID. That will unlock your medical records from a database, allowing doctors to learn about your penicillin allergy or your pacemaker.

That all sounds great, but could chip implants be used for something more sinister? Scott Silverman, the CEO of VeriChip's parent corporation, acknowledges that RFID injections aren't an easy sell. In fact, the company's own research reveals that 9 out of 10 people find the whole thing creepy.

Nothing makes privacy lovers and conspiracy theorists blanch like people rolling up their sleeves to get injected with tiny electronic devices. But fears of an Enemy of the State- -like government tracking system overlook the fact that RFID chips can only be read at very short range. Will the chips let the FBI and National Security Agency watch implantees on some super-secret radar screen? Not likely. Could some stalker hobbyist hide a dozen RFID scanners around your neighborhood and track you from his garage? Possibly.

VeriChip's biggest human-chip market is Mexico. In July, the attorney general and 160 members of his staff were implanted with a chip in order to control access to a new government facility. Building security isn't the biggest part of VeriChip's south-of-the-border sales pitch, though. Mexico's kidnapping wave—the country's 3,000 abductions a year are second only to Colombia worldwide—has led VeriChip to partner with the National Foundation for the Investigation of Lost and Kidnapped Children. So far, 1,000 Mexican citizens have voluntarily had RFID chips implanted.

The idea of using RFID gear to thwart kidnappers betrays a fundamental misunderstanding—or a deliberate misrepresentation—of how the technology works. An RFID implant is useful for tracking within a controlled area like a warehouse—"Where's widget No. 4,343?"—but not so useful for the kind Tommy Lee Jones does in The Fugitive. The RFID readers now on the market have a maximum range of about 30 feet. To monitor kidnappings in progress, Mexico would need to install RFID readers in every building, office, store, and street corner.

Silverman concedes that the company's Mexican distributor may not have tried very hard to dispel the notion that VeriChips have GPS capabilities, which would be required for real remote tracking. VeriChip's parent company says a subdermal GPS device is now in development. But until a GPS implant becomes reality, implanted RFID chips will come in handy mostly in identifying dead bodies—that is, assuming kidnappers have the decency not to dig the chips out of their victims' arms. There are implementation problems with that fantasy RFID medical scheme, too. Once you've been chipped, you'll have to wait for VeriChip to connect its database—containing your medical records—with each hospital's individual system. By the time we get a national medical database, you'll probably have died of natural causes.

Maybe you shouldn't trust RFID to stop a kidnapping or to save your life in an emergency. Perhaps a more realistic suggestion is to use RFID implants to replace the tracking bracelets now imposed upon those who a) aren't trusted to be in the right place at the right time; and b) aren't given much of a choice: kids (at theme parks like Fort Lauderdale's Wannado City and Legoland in Denmark), the elderly, and prisoners. Though injection is unpleasant to think about, subdermal devices are far harder to remove—and, thus, far more reliable—than an external bracelet. And what about the lighter side of chip injection? Patrons of Barcelona's Baja Beach Club now pay for drinks via a system that links their VeriChip implants to their credit cards.

Any potential revolution in human tracking or mundane convenience comes with a fundamental insecurity. A scanner operating at the right wavelength can read an RFID chip. That means that any hobbyist can just buy an RFID reader and use it to keep tabs on the chip-implanted people that happen to walk by. Here's a list of RFID readers that can plug into various handheld computers—the 125 kHz readers, including this $425 model, would pick up a VeriChip. Models like this 2-inch-by-1-inch 125 kHz reader could be hidden quite easily. It wouldn't be hard for a tech-savvy stalker to rig his scanner to activate a camera whenever it detected an RFID chip. By logging the times that your implant was scanned, he could easily track your comings and goings

You could make your RFID chip unreadable by putting a blocking device like Mylar fabric or a metal plate between the chip and the reader. RFID chips could also be made to transmit their information in encrypted form, but VeriChip hasn't announced any plans to do so. Until it does, it might be best to keep RFID chips outside your epidermis. And a special message for all you kids out there: If your parents insist on microchip implantation, just make sure you've got some Mylar armbands lying around the house.

Josh McHugh is a contributing editor at Wired.


Informant: USERDE6253

The technology to implant microchips and track people's movements and even their bank accounts with these chips is now being publicly acknowledged. The below two articles from the CNN and CBS websites cause one to pause and think. I am a big supporter of truth and transparency on both global and personal levels, but microchips under the skin is an invasive procedure for which I have no interest. Some fear this technology may eventually lead to mass microchipping of the human population for reasons of "national security." This would clearly be a gross invasion of privacy. Notice how both articles below seem to be subtly trying to convince the public that this is a beneficial technology, already accepted by people outside of the US.

I have heard from several insiders that the cutting edge technology being developed in secret, unacknowledged "black projects" by our military and intelligence services is 10 years or more in advance of anything being sold to the public. Several years ago, I attended a lecture given by former Vice President Al Gore's science advisor in Washington, DC. He said that the gadgets and weapons being developed in top secret programs that he had been privileged to see were seriously disturbing to him. And this is someone who knows a lot about cutting-edge technology. Please help spread the news so that people are aware of what is going on in the world. Together, we can make a big difference.

With best wishes,
Fred

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/06/09/spain.club/

Technology gets under clubbers' skin

By Chetna Purohit
Wednesday, June 9, 2004 Posted: 1324 GMT (2124 HKT)

(CNN) -- Queuing to get into one nightclub in Spain could soon be a thing of the past for regular customers thanks to a tiny computer chip implanted under their skin.

The technology, known as a VeriChip, also means nightclubbers can leave their cash and cards at home and buy drinks using a scanner. The bill can then be paid later.

The system is also designed to curb identity theft and prevent fraudulent access to credit card accounts that is increasingly common in crowded restaurants and clubs.

Clubbers who want to join the scheme at Baja Beach Club in Barcelona pay 125 euros (about US $150) for the VeriChip -- about the size of a grain of rice -- to be implanted in their body.

Then when they pass through a scanner the chip is activated and it emits a signal containing the individual's number, which is then transmitted to a secure data storage site.

The club's director, Conrad Chase, said he began using the VeriChip, made by Applied Digital Solutions, in March 2004 because he needed something similar to a VIP card and wanted to provide his customers with better service.

"I believe we should use new technology to provide our customers with the best service and entertainment," Chase told CNN.

He said 10 of the club's regular customers, including himself, have been implanted with the chip, and predicted more would follow.

"I know many people who want to be implanted," said Chase. "Almost everybody now has a piercing, tattoos or silicone. Why not get the chip and be original?"

In the wake of the Madrid train bombings that killed 190 people in March, Chase said VeriChip could also boost security by speeding up checks at airports, for example.

He denied the scheme had any drawbacks. The VeriChip is an in-house debit card and contains no personal information. It is made of glass so poses no health risk, Chase said.

But Dr. Arun Patel, a general physician in Los Angeles, warned that placing an electronic device inside the body could be problematic.

"From a medical standpoint, obviously you worry about radiation with any electronic device," Patel said.


(The following article by Associated Press is posted on the CBS news website)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/17/tech/main563819.shtml


A Real Chip On Your Shoulder

MEXICO CITY, July 17, 2003

(AP) Borrowing from an idea that allows pet owners to track their dogs and cats, a U.S. company launched Thursday in Mexico the sale of microchips that can be implanted under a person's skin and used to confirm everything from health history to identity.

The microchips, which went on sale last year in the United States, could tap into a growing industry surrounding Mexico's crime concerns. Kidnappings, robberies and fraud are common here, and Mexicans are constantly looking for ways to stay ahead of criminals.

The microchip, the size of a grain of rice, is implanted in the arm or hip and can contain information on everything from a person's blood type to their name. Hospital officials and security guards can use a scanning device to read the chip's information.

In a two-hour presentation, Palm Beach, Florida-based Applied Digital Solutions Inc. introduced reporters to the VeriChip and used a syringe-like device and local anesthetic to implant a sample in the right arm of employee Carlos Altamirano.

“It doesn't hurt at all,” he said. “The whole process is just painless.”

Another chip user, Luis Valdez, who is diabetic, said the chip is “as innovative to me as the cell phone.”

Antonio Aceves, the director of the Mexican company charged with distributing the chip here, said that in the first year of sales, the company hoped to implant chips in 10,000 people and ensure that at least 70 percent of all hospitals had the technology to read the devices.

One chip costs $150 and has a $50 annual fee. The scanning device and related software is $1200. Users can update and manage their chips' information by calling a 24-hour customer service line.

Similar technology has been used on dogs and cats as a way to identify the pets if they are lost or stolen.

The VeriChip can track subjects who are within 5 miles, but officials want to develop a new chip that can use satellite technology to track people who are farther away and may have been kidnapped.

While the idea of using the chip to track people has raised privacy concerns in the United States, the idea has been popular with Mexicans, who have been contacting Aceves and asking when the new global positioning chip will be available. The company hopes to have the new anti-kidnapping chip developed by 2003.

http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/04/11/wo_garfinkel110304.asp


Informant: Anna Webb