Surveillance company implants RFID chips in workers

Sure, implanting an RFID chip in your workers might incite privacy concerns, be a tad creepy, and signal the end of days, but we can't help but raise the awesome flag for CityWatcher.com and their efforts to borgify the workplace. Apparently they have planted chips in the upper right arms of two employees assigned to the secure vault which holds the security footage captured by the company, and while it seems like a bit of a PR stunt more than a security measure, the RFID chips are required to access the room, so at least they're not kidding around.

[Nathan @ Feb 13th 2006 1:25PM]

Wow! This is a harbinger for the Apocalypse. This is the Mark of the Beast, everyone stay away from this chip because you will go to hell if you don't. I know this is the Mark of the Beast because they're putting it in their right arm. WAAAAAHHH!

Ok, just kidding, I don't really believe a microchip is the mark of the beast, but seriously, I wouldn't want people to GPS me to where I am. That's my two cents.

[kenny @ Feb 13th 2006 1:38PM]

I will go ahead and jump on the boat of calling RFID the mark of the beast...heck the bible/ect say its a visible mark, well you can't see the chip, but maybe the antenia attached to it...and its suppose to be either on forehead or a hand area...

but in seriousness, imagine the privacy thingy...its not just at work, imagine passing through a Walmart thingy, and setting off some alarm just because its something the system reconizes or just was not programmed right...

[Tazeeyore @ Feb 13th 2006 1:40PM]

Ahhh, so that's what the aliens have been doing to us earthlings for so many years. They implanted these chips in our arms to make sure we go to work every day and actually work and not get online and post on weblogs like this one during working hours. =) oops.

[bryan ribas @ Feb 13th 2006 1:48PM]

I dont mind it. I would have one inplanted for pesonal reason. Just think... You walk up to you house and the house knows who you are and opens the door. Same as the car door. I wouldn't want the gov or my work for that matter but for personal use it hink its a cool idea.

[bryan ribas @ Feb 13th 2006 1:49PM]

I dont mind it. I would have one inplanted for pesonal reason. Just think... You walk up to you house and the house knows who you are and opens the door. Same as the car door. I wouldn't want the gov or my work for that matter but for personal use it hink its a cool idea.

[Fist Of Konshu @ Feb 13th 2006 1:50PM]

So what happens when these guys change jobs? They will still have the chip in their arm but now it will mean nothing. Will they still be able to get into the vault? There are just too many problems with this system. It's meant for a perfect world but we aren't in a perfect world.

[Grant Brady @ Feb 13th 2006 1:56PM]

See, now i dont think like you guys do. i think this is a great step into the future. imagine, you dont have to carry around 3-4 credit cards...its just one chip in the arm/shoulder/wrist. It could be used for Passports and Visas, drivers license and vehicle registrations and Insurance information. Easily accessed by a smart card reader. Or, GPS enabled with vital signs for a family. I mean, parents could see their kids to make sure they are ok, grandma and pap driving to florida can be watched to make sure they don't wreck. i feel this is a very important step for technology

[JGE @ Feb 13th 2006 1:56PM]

Here's one.... implant enough of them into terrorists with high powered explosives to the point where they're not detectable with the current means of screening and make walking, remote control bombs. They can track where they are and detonate them once they are in place. Possible scenario for the next Tom Clancy book.

[Steve @ Feb 13th 2006 2:31PM]

Grant #5
I think your missing something... crime will happen no matter if they steal your wallet, your identity or your arm. It will continue as long as there is something of value to them worth stealing.

While the technology is good for some thing applications, putting in humans for tracking/marketing/identity information is going overboard. I still believe in my right to privacy.. but that is being taken little by little in this "free country" of ours.

[Steve Hall @ Feb 13th 2006 2:49PM]

Never, never, never use any part of your body as your password. That goes for fingerprints, eyeballs or an RFID chip in your arm. People will simply cut it off, beat you over the head with it and then get access to all of your bootleg MP3s!

[Jerry Whiting @ Feb 13th 2006 2:51PM]

Biometrics is one thing but at least you have to be ALIVE for your iris scan or thumbprint to work. CUT OFF MY ARM AND IMPERSONATE ME?!? No thanks.

PR stunt maybe but I'm more comfortable with this technology in stray dogs and mad cow disease prone cattle than I am with humanoids.

And this is from one who's been in the barcode/auto ID business for 17 years. You don't see ME running around with a chip under my skin or even a barcode tattoo!

I thought The X Files was fiction, just a TV show.

[iptydafu @ Feb 13th 2006 2:54PM]

Until the chip thinks, it can be copied. So it's not all that damn secure. And can't they get a hand-model? -Look at those cuticles.

[jonathan pember @ Feb 13th 2006 3:22PM]

i think it could be possible for an RFID chip to be use as the mark of the beast. i dont really know if it will be a "666" on someones forehead but this thing has potential to damn you to hell.

[Tulio @ Feb 13th 2006 3:34PM]

Instead of getting kidnapped and waking up in a bathtub with ice and missing a kidding or other organ. Now you will be knocked out and missing an RFID chip. There are scanners that can find them.

Picture this. You get hammered on New Years Eve and pass out. Wake up and your arm is sore with a band aid in it. Then you get arrested because someone accessed your office and stole money, or important paperwork.

It would be easier to steal an identity, which is scary.

[Kevin @ Feb 13th 2006 3:51PM]

Citywatch.com goes through all of this "security" to restrict access to the vault of tapes, but their website does not even use SSL for their login / password. They may want to start small and work up.

[Bracken @ Feb 13th 2006 4:40PM]

Darn! They told me years ago when I implanted that cassette tape drive into my left bottom cheek that technology was bound to get smaller. Darn!
And the mark of the beast?! Come on; look real close at the model number...it is 999!!! That is like 333 away from evil. Geesh.

[dsol @ Feb 13th 2006 4:52PM]

a company with the sole purpose of surveillance

this is definitely the type of company to be the first to implant ( implement? ) rfid in their employees

[Chance @ Feb 13th 2006 6:14PM]

Too bad it's not all that secure.
http://cq.cx/verichip.pl

[Narnia Nerd @ Feb 13th 2006 7:06PM]

I hope they get a really huge bonus for the lack of privacy that they get in return for this little task!

[Anthony @ Feb 13th 2006 7:50PM]

borgify - that's the technical term from the industry, right?

[EatingPie @ Feb 13th 2006 7:59PM]

"See, now i dont think like you guys do. i think this is a great step into the future. imagine, you dont have to carry around 3-4 credit cards..."

Ah. Can't buy or sell without RFID. Oh, no... not the mark of the beast at all. Nooooooo possible way...

-Pie

[CyclotronX @ Feb 13th 2006 8:50PM]

Someone is going to get mugged and their arm cut off.

[Michael Douglas @ Feb 13th 2006 11:09PM]

If they're so concerned about security, you wouldn't think these kind of details would be public.

[MMORPG @ Feb 14th 2006 2:16AM]

Welcome to 1984... :o

[Jason @ Feb 14th 2006 2:42AM]

We will turn humanity into constantly monitored robots...
"Resistance is futile."
Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[Jason @ Feb 14th 2006 2:46AM]

". Biometrics is one thing but at least you have to be ALIVE for your iris scan or thumbprint to work. CUT OFF MY ARM AND IMPERSONATE ME?!? No thanks."
Dude, you missed the newsflash in which a man's finger was cut off in order to steal his car. You don't have to be alive...

[Unomi @ Feb 14th 2006 8:41AM]

Well at least the bible has been accurate on all the prophecies so far. Why would the mark of the beast not come in our time?

Read most of the quotes of high placed officials and some of them even quote to submit the sheeple into having the Mark of the Beast. Because the New World Order needs a system like that.

But for the number 666: it is about the hebrew writing of characters wich can form numbers since each character has a value. Jesus forms 777 and 7 stands for perfect. 666 is almost 777.

The bible also explains itself by refering to other passages. In the old testament there is one reference to something on the hand or something on the forehead. Read it for yourself and discover that the people of Israel had to wear something to keep thinking of what God had told them.

So, the Mark of the beast is more like something we do (hand) or something we think about (head). So our lives are against Christ, our behavior is denying His mercy. This is the human who doesn't need God or any mercy to redeem himself from sinning. This is the anti-christ.

It is not a person on his own. It is all the people who are acting anti-christian

- Unomi -

[Rivetgeek @ Feb 15th 2006 10:32AM]

"Well at least the bible has been accurate on all the prophecies so far"

That's the dumbest thing I've heard all week.

As for the RFID implants, this is nothing new. Some professor at a college did this years ago. The doors to his office open for him and the lights come on.

[RacerX @ Feb 15th 2006 5:33PM]

One must consider the ultimate end or purpose of technology along with the unintended uses of said technology. I'm not shouting for all of us to shut off electricity and become complete technophobes, however, I think it prudent for the unintended uses caveat to be heeded.

We may create a technology with all good intentions, but it is naive to assume that technology will always be utilized in such a manner. A timely for instance might be the CALEA laws which have been usurped for monitoring purposes outside of their originally intended purposes. The side effects of these 'all knowing' and therefore, presumably 'all telling' technologies is that we are soon resigned to accept things that we may have refused under earlier cicumstances.

Stick a live frog in a pot of boiling water to cook him and he'll jump out. Place him in tepid water and apply heat and he'll stay there until dead and fully cooked.

The long term effects need to be carefully thought out. Where does all of this lead to? Think generationally, globally, and consider mankind's direction with regards to these types of technology.

-RacerX

[james @ Jan 20th 2008 6:48AM]

Like a frog boiling in water, society will just accept it. I won't but billions will. This is prophesied in scripture wether you believe it or not. You WILL NOT be able to buy or sell without this 'system' controlling everything about you. If you fight it they can turn it off, meaning you cannot access your 'money'. They will market this as having many benefits much like I have read in your comments but you are being conditioned even now to not even care about freedoms and privacy anymore, why? because we know they already have our privacy but if thats true why the need to have RFID chips? The banks! They want total control over us and all money. No more will people cheat on taxes, no more will it be difficult for police to track you down or find you. You can be tracked and hunted down like a dog. Media is already controlled by the corporate giants and are behind not revealing controversies around this issue. They are quietly taking our eyes off this and dumbing us down , entertaining us with dribble. The banks don't want us to care and they don't care if you do. The police are being trained for the near future when people will refuse to take the rfid chip. For a time it will be a recommended item to have,then through media people will be pressured to feel uncomfortable for not being chipped, then it will be manditory and it will be against global laws to not be chipped. Babies will be chipped at birth and what freedom will they experience?, what sort of a life will they endure? They will be clay in the marketters hands and a soft target for the banks to manipulate into debt. The RFID chip isn't science fiction though it sounds like it, I ask all who read this to be aware that evil isn't always in a loud bang but moret often in a gentle whisper. We are are the hearers and we must be ready and be educated on the truth about the rfid conspiracy. Our governments are behind it as we know but do they care about us or our kids? The Bible speaks of all this but open your eyes, open your heats to Gods word and be prepared. Jesus said look for the signs of His coming, look for the signs. Be prepared!Ps. If Bush can slide the North America Union under the majority of Americans without a peep of dissagreement, how weak are we as a people? The union is another step toward a global government. 1st the Euro (United Europe), then the Amero(United America), then an African Union and an Asian Union then these four will become one world order.One government, world bank and world control over all nations for a time.These are serious times and I asure you if you are not a Christian, and you have not repented of your sins the Bible warns us that we do not know the day or the hour that Christ will return and He will. How do I know? Because prophecy in the Bible is happening before our eyes...Jesus Is Lord.