Mulling over Marnie Trosclair to George Pope 21 Apr 2005

Hi Marnie...

MT> Will chip implants for humans be as common as cellphones within
MT> a decade?  That remains to be seen.  What are your thoughts?
MT> What happens when the chip doesn't work?

GP> And further, what happens when retailing rectal orifices with 
GP> zero concern for what consumers really want (ab)use these chips?

 MT> The same thing that happens when they show too little respect for 
 MT> the public's concerns about privacy and the security of databases
 MT> containing personal financial and medical information, purchase 
 MT> histories, etc.  The public ends up being abused.

 MT> But I still want to know what happens when these chip implants stop
 MT> working.  How long are they expected to work?  Do the 
 MT> manufacturers talk about implant life spans?  

As I understand, the expected "lifetime" for implants for pets
& livestock
is about 10 years - long enough for most animals bred for slaughter, but
not for a human living 70 years or so.

 MT> When something goes wrong, how difficult are the repairs?  Who 
 MT> pays for them? If the chip implants are used for commerce or to 
 MT> control access and they stop working, what's the fallback 
 MT> position?  

Certainly raises interesting questions - where the implant is used
for identification and access to a "secure" establishment ( a nuclear
silo perhaps?), it might be possible to "zap" the chips & prevent
a missile from being launched. If there was a fallback / override,
then again it might be possible to attack the "secure" site via
the fallback (backdoor).

 MT> From the article by Mark Bard: "Time to buy a new shirt, Dave" 

MB> Some technology firms, such as IBM, are also making 
MB> devices known as kill machines that will be able to 
MB> disable the tags after checkout.

 MT> That's a device for killing RFID chips attached to clothing and 
 MT> other products.  Can a similar device be usd to kill chips 
 MT> implanted in humans?  If so, will it be used as a weapon to fight
 MT> the system?  Or to make the lives of some people more difficult? 

It may be that the chips could be "killed" simply by devices like
MRI machines. I was in the local post office this week when a woman
ahead received a call on her mobile phone. It was enough to disrupt
the electronic cash register / terminals and stop some transactions
for a short time.

Cheers, Steve..

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