VeriChip wants to chip every US soldier

Despite some pretty significant security concerns, everyone's favorite futurific company VeriChip is looking to get its chips under the skin of the largest group of people yet: the entire US military. According to the DC Examiner, the company is lobbying the Pentagon to choose its RFID tags as a replacement for the famous metal dog tags, making information like a person's name and complete medical record instantly available with the swipe of an RFID reader. Needless to say, not everyone's sold on the idea, with veterans' groups and some members of Congress already raising concerns. There doesn't seem to be any indication as to when a decision might be made, although given VeriChip's political connections, we wouldn't be so quick to bet against it.

[Via Newsmax]

[Gil @ Aug 24th 2006 6:04AM]

This is going to sound morbid but has anyone considered other implications of this tech?

Can you say automatic targeting systems? With what the military spends on devices it's not hard to come up with a position locator. The soldiers won't stand a chance.
Then in 20 years we'll have the gun from the 5th element working (the yellow one with smart bullets that auto-targeted)

[Taz @ Aug 24th 2006 6:33AM]

Surely, they'd need to implant 2 or 3 around the body, to ensure that it didn't get blown off with any limbs

[EdZ @ Aug 24th 2006 6:35AM]

Lesse... ID tagged soliers. Next, ID tegged weapons...

Hideo Kojima does it again! (Watch the MGS4 trailer if I appear to be rambling even less coherantly than usual).

[Galang @ Aug 24th 2006 6:41AM]

As a member of the Armed Forces they can go fuck themselves!

[ASH @ Aug 24th 2006 6:48AM]

Fact attempting to follow fiction. Manchurian Candidate anyone?

[Seanux @ Aug 24th 2006 7:02AM]

can anyone say ELF? these guys would turn into big giant homing beacons, and don't let some slimey salesman convince you otherwise, its a stupid idea, 0's and 1's can be cracked it just takes time and patience. "oh sorry your son died, but we really needed to make a few bucks off of those RFID tags" what a joke. The sad part is this will probably take off eventually, its moments like these i'm glad i'm Canadian and not in the military

[Z @ Aug 24th 2006 7:05AM]

A precursor to the Mark of the Beast approaches its official debut, ladies and gentlemen.

VeriChip is undoubtedly just the beginning phase of the technology, designed to warm people up to the idea of implants so that when the time comes for them to receive the Mark of the Beast, many won't think twice. Or maybe at that point you'll have to. The Mark of the Beast may actually go by another moniker altogether other than "VeriChip" when it finally arrives. Who knows for sure at this point.

Start off slow... use it for the military first to get people used to the idea that it's goooood, then move to civilians.

What?!? Did you think this whole thread could last without at least one mention of that? Get real!!!

[jayson @ Aug 24th 2006 7:12AM]

the mark of the beast huh??? didn't you know that the world already ended on august 22???

[Groundrush @ Aug 24th 2006 8:05AM]

US troop here. Over my dead body.

I wrote VeriChip the following message:

I just got finished reading that your company is lobbying the US Government for a contract to stick your chip into 1.4 million troops, myself included. Let me just start by saying that I am outraged that VeriChip is lobbying to make lots of money by sticking a permanent piece of circuitry into my body without my consent. This makes you a potential intruder into my life. I will NEVER allow anyone to place an RFID chip into my body. On top of the fact that it's an intrusion into my body, it's just not necessary. The military already uses smart cards for its ID cards which contain encrypted information and PKI certificates. This is sufficient for all identification and access control purposes. You might argue that your RFID chip would provide an advantage for identifying casualties. The military already has DNA on file for that purpose, and if it's a situation that would require DNA identification, there's little chance that the RFID chip would be intact. Bottom line: you are lobbying for a lucrative contract to push a unnecessary product on a lot of people that don't want you to come near them. And I, for one, will never let that happen.

[Danb @ Aug 24th 2006 8:11AM]

I know there are privacy concerns, and liberals and tinfoil hat merchants will pour from the holes, but I think there's a real positive side to this. If I'm lying in a ditch with IED holes in my, it strikes me as rather helpful when a medic can run a reader over me and get my full medical history, previous treatments, allergies etc, immediately ? Sounds like a lifesaver to me.

[Carl Trimble @ Aug 24th 2006 8:18AM]

The last time something was implanted in me... I was abducted.

[Tom Dietrich @ Aug 24th 2006 8:20AM]

It's alot easier and cheaper to use infrared to spot a human than to attempt to blast an area with radio waves and pick out the miniscule reply of a few imbeded chips designed to be read from inches away.

[Tyge @ Feb 22nd 2007 6:37AM]

good point. But this does not mean that the rest of the world wont eventually get chipped and not be a ble to buy sell or trde without this chip.

Revelation 13:16-18(Verichip=666) He also FORCED
EVERYONE, small and
great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right
hand or on his forehead, so that no one could BUY OR SELL unless he
had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the NUMBER of his
name. This calls for WISDOM. If anyone has INSIGHT, let him calculate
the number of the beast, for it is MAN'S number. His number is 666.

[Perrey Z. @ Aug 24th 2006 8:55AM]

ASH; That's exactly what i thought when i read the article. Sounds like Bush and Rumsfeld like the movie so much that they're ready to get an army full of sleepers.

Jayson; if it ended on the 22nd according to you, why are YOU still here? Try to keep up with intelligent posts instead of pretending to be a smart ass. Replying with sarcasm makes you look more stupid that what you already are.

It will be a cool day in hell before anyone stick that little bugger inside me. i like my freedom the way it was meant to be; free of any chip or RFID.

I have a far better idea-let's bring back or men and women from that fake war and let Bush and his merry band of criminals to fight alone in the front line to protect the nation's right of "democracy" and not some multi-trillion dollar oil line...

[sfuller @ Aug 24th 2006 8:55AM]

They can't even get our smartchip ID cards to work. All my computer does all day is waste cycles verifing who I am through USB and I still have paper medical and dental records that I hold on to so they don't get lost by DA civilians, or worse, contractors, who mostly suck. The rfid tablet is just more fodder for the military-industrial complex that we've heard so much about. How about tax free pay all the time, not just in combat, and a records database tied to your silly common access card instead of wasting more money?

[RWD fan @ Aug 24th 2006 8:58AM]

Besides all the tin foil hat stuff there's security problems for each military member also. The current ID tag system has each person's SSN on the tag. If this were the continued practice each of these soldiers would have the possibility of having their SSN revealed by just walking through a doorway with a reader installed. I don't forsee any branch going to the trouble of making a whole new ID number system, so I'd bet they'd still rely on the old SSN. They can throw a fit about a contractor losing a CDROM in a laptop with the same info, but if they sanction this big of a security hole they won't say a peep.

[Jayskie @ Aug 24th 2006 9:05AM]

Great,

First:
I worry someone hacking my WEP wireless, unsecure
Then:
I change to WAP, still unsecure
Later:
I find out Bluetooth, unsecure
And now:
RFID....to be continued!

[Dan @ Aug 24th 2006 9:07AM]

Despite the negatives (or should I say, "rash hyper-delusional surmisations from world fearing change haters") stated above, most of which can be thwarted, I feel it's a good idea. Time is precious in the case of medical care. Knowing everything about a patient, instantly, would save countless lives.

[Wonderboy @ Aug 24th 2006 9:07AM]

Tom... yes you can use infrared to pick out human shapes, but in crowded towns where guerrilla warfare is the style of choice how can you tell if they're soldiers, or criminals, or your next door neighbor? Spreading radio frequncies that can amplify the signal from the RFID tag will not alert you to a neighbor, but will pick out our soldiers easily.

Crappy idea. Dog tags work just fine, and Verichip's father apparently never told him the adage of "if it ain't broke..."

[Jonathan Sundy @ Aug 24th 2006 9:08AM]

First, isn't there some purpose to the dog tag being removable? I can't recall exactly but aren't they supposed to grab them when someone passes away in duty or something of that nature?

Second, RFID has a range, a very short range if done right, don't be so retarded about it. They aren't going to be scoping out soldiers RFID tags from accross a battlefield, hell not even across a room.

Third someone made mention of tagged weapons, and you know what, that's a really good way to make smart weapons no? Just tag the weapon to only work when held by us soldiers with the tag.

RFID still hasn't proven itself to be secure though and although I see advantages to the concept eventually, I don't think it's ready yet.

In regards to the privacy issue and that whole anything is crackable, can't they just use a sufficiently large rsa key or something of that nature? Who honestly cares if they figure out the name of the soldier they walked past 8 years ago by the time they'd crack it. Encryption is all about making things reasonably secure. Of course given infinite time and infinite resources anything is crackable (except quantum encryption so i hears) but no one has either.


When stories like these break the stupid companies should really be making an effort to explain why they want to do this and what the advantages are rather than just coming off as money hungry.... unless Engadget left out some deets.

[Wonderboy @ Aug 24th 2006 9:10AM]

Dan... what kind of info are you talking about that are needed instantly to save a person's life? Allergies? Medical conditions? In other words short-list items that can be included on a medical tag...

So really you're not saving any time. Either you flip the medical tag over and read the allergies or conditions, or you scan the RFID tag, look at the computer, and read the allergies or conditions.

[Michael Reighley @ Sep 21st 2006 11:38AM]

The technology called Verichip is very real, and will be FORCE upon the people of this great nation, as well the world. There are over 3,000 people in the world already have the implanted. Now the verichip co. working within our government to come up with a plan to implanted their solider. This is part of the NEW WORLD ORDER plan to enslaved mankind under the Antichrist control and it will become TOTAL CONTROL. Join the Resistance, or start one now.

It is time, that we American Resistance put this to the end of this MARK OF THE BEAST.

Warn others as you can, people need to know.. One man can not make a change in the world, but with everyone together with this understanding of what this is really about, and what the IRAQ wars, etc 9/11 was all a setup to bring about the NEW WORLD ORDER FINAL BATTLE against anyone who is against their PLANS!

The government already planning to make the United States of America to join up with the two other country, Mexico & Canada as a NORTH AMERICAN UNION. Do the search on the net. This is part of the bible prophecy, the BEAST (Antichrist world power) with 7 heads and 10 horns. One of the horns is European Union, the next, well you guess it it the North American Union, as well South American Union, etc.

This is part of the ILLUMINATI plan to take control over the world, the true foundation of the final step of the rise of the ANTICHRIST into power.

Then remember this.. research this information, expose it, and prepared yourself to resistance it.
We going to need your HELP!

The war on Terrorist is just part of their plot, remember the real Terrorist is our government who want to enslaved us all.

Stand on the Word of GOD, walk with the Lord GOD almighty, for he is the way, truth and light, Jesus Christ, AMEN! For his true coming is at hand. JOIN THE TRIBULATION RESISTANCE GROUP, form them, etc.

Stay in touch with me.

SHALOM and May the Lord be with you always!

[noobs @ Aug 24th 2006 9:21AM]

um so even if its only can be used you can bet your ass that once someone cracks it its going to be used as a trigger in a doorway for bombs and IEDs.

Maybe not this year, or next, but eventually it will happen.

[Gil @ Aug 24th 2006 9:24AM]

Jonathan Sundy said:
"First, isn't there some purpose to the dog tag being removable? I can't recall exactly but aren't they supposed to grab them when someone passes away in duty or something of that nature?"
Yes. I understand is that they take one of the tags when the man dies as proof of death.

"Second, RFID has a range, a very short range if done right, don't be so retarded about it. They aren't going to be scoping out soldiers RFID tags from accross a battlefield, hell not even across a room."
Any RFID can be read from far far away with a good reader. In the end RFID is just a filter for radio energy that it reflects back. The more energy you pump into it the more it sends back (==more range).

[slick @ Aug 24th 2006 9:28AM]

What happens when someone standing near you(or you walk by a hidden RFID reader) reads the data in your chip and clones it for nefarious purposes?

It's already being done. Google for it.

[Dan @ Aug 24th 2006 9:42AM]

Wonderboy, I'm not a practioner, but I am sure there are many examples of useful medical information that requires more than two lines of text on a dog tag to describe.

Regardless, why not give the soldiers RFID dog tags and an implant in the back of the neck that can be easily removed after duty?

I also think it's irrational to say that these people are going to be walking homing becons. Not only is the RFID tech hard to crack, but, at that size, it's not going to be transmitting a signal more than a few feet.

[Dan @ Aug 24th 2006 9:44AM]

Practitioner*

[trev @ Aug 24th 2006 9:59AM]

Sticking these under your skin seems a bit extreme - why not just embed them in the dogtags? Its easier and soldiers would be alot more willing to go along with it. However, like other people I am concerned about the possibility of using these thigns to locate and target soldiers.

[Nullness @ Aug 24th 2006 11:01AM]

Screw RFID -- just give soldiers a USB port for exchanging data; you'd be able to read and update medical data just as easily, and update their firmware at the same time.

[xzavier @ Aug 24th 2006 11:14AM]

I thought the world was going to end on December 21, 2012???
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=december+21%2C+2012+mayan+11%3A18&btnG=Search

Maybe a few peeps would like to read the book SpyChips, sign up for email notifications?
http://www.spychips.com/

Anybody see what the NEW US Military/NAZI uniforms look like?
http://www.thepowerhour.com/news2/new_military_uniform.htm
http://www.nonpartisanpundit.com/2006/05/new_air_force_u.html

No doubt about it. Our FREEDOMS are definitely being infringed upon! I guess after this bill passes, all of us military personnel will need to be chip because there will be too many military peeps to track = AKA me and you. Hurray for RFID to the rescue!
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h109-4752

Yea we definitely need to do something about this sh!t.

[John C. Randolph @ Aug 24th 2006 11:28AM]

What a bloody stupid idea. Just from a tactical standpoint, it means putting an RF transponder into every soldier. So, now if the enemy wants to know where a soldier is, all they need is an antenna. Who thought this up, General Custer?

-jcr

[Ben Hetrick @ Aug 24th 2006 2:28PM]

Being a medic in the Army, I can tell you right now I would NEVER allow that in my body. Screw that and screw the people who had the idea for it.

[Tiago @ Aug 24th 2006 2:46PM]

First the Army NEXT THE WORLD! If anyone allows this in their body it's up for a frightening future... :F

[old punz @ Aug 24th 2006 2:54PM]

Pathetic: Geeks who have never served do not know the importance of non-detection. What's a soldier gonna do when he goes black or undercover, whip out his swiss army knife and cut this easily detectible device out?

Maybe they didn’t read the Jill Carroll story this week:
"Yesterday, the American soldiers came very close, very close to this place where you were. Why did they do that?"
Again, they were accusing me of communicating with the U.S. military. This was bad.
"I am the leader of this little group, and I'm a little more sophisticated than my friends here," he continued. "Do you have something in your body, something to send a signal to your government?"
Then he told me a story: He'd had a friend held at the U.S. prison at Abu Ghraib. This friend claimed that Marines had given him medicine that put him to sleep, many times. After he got out, he went to the doctor, had an X-ray, and they'd found an electronic tracking device implanted in his body.
"If you have this in your body, tell me now and we'll go and take it out,""
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/08/16/MNGVJKJAVT1.DTL

[NotWilling @ Aug 24th 2006 4:03PM]

What a great way to activate land mines or other traps. Have it scan for RFID with the correct signiture and then become active when someone with an implant walks by it. Anything that singles out your soldiers can be used against them it just takes time and some creativity.
Let some other country try it out first and lets see how it works before we start using it.

[jamesFF @ Aug 24th 2006 9:48PM]

I have just joined the Army about a year ago, and I would never have one of these RFID chips in me.
They have isued me ID tags and an ID card with a smart chip in it. I keep my ID card in a holder around my neck with my ID tags. If they need my medical history it is right there.

[mike @ Oct 1st 2006 9:36PM]

just another soldier here, and it'll be over my dead body that i or any one i know will be inplanted .verichip has no idea who they are fuckin with we as a people have an uncanny source of strength and fighting power when it comes to our freedom.
from the days of old when we escaped to the new world and went against the king and queen of england and created the us and won the civil war to ww2 we have fought for our liberties. and it will happen again if the governmant sides with verichip they will and i assure you the people will rise up and start a civil war wich woud be devastating with today's modern technology verichip will separate the government unlike anything due to the fact that it is the begining of the mark of the beast. it could very well be americas downfall we will fight for our liberty remember the old saying "give me liberty or give me death!" and a nation divide within itself cannot stand. DEATH TO THE VERICHIP

[mike @ Oct 2nd 2006 2:24PM]

hay every one u know whats creepy did some research and this is what i came up with. i took my S.S NUMBER and combined it with my driver lic number and came up with a sequence of three six's here's how it works example write the 1st three digits of driver id, now the first three of ss number, now the next three of driver, id now the next two of ss number, now the last three of driver id, and now the last three of SS number what do you have?

examlpe drver id 123-456-789
ss number abc-ef-ghij end result 123abc456ef789ghij
i substituted letters for number so u wont get confused

[379681 @ Oct 11th 2006 11:42AM]

I'm shipping off to basic training in nov, and the thought of a chip inside my skin reminds me of the household pets we chipped since the 90s. First we chip the beasts and now the man? I do support the idea of giving us a USB port (2.0 preferred :P)but in all seriousness this would be a huge infringement on our personal security. As electronic warfare progresses it increases our vunerability to be chipped. And a new age of terrorism is upon us which is cyberterrorism. As a soon to be new soldier I will refuse the chip because a weapon will be devised to use the chip against us. A scanner being able to read any RFID chip and being able to separate friend from foe which is hooked up to an explosive device. Smart Weapons only became smarter because of our mistakes. What if the enemy was walking in the streets of NYC with a scanner and a pocket pc attached that saved all the info? An EMP can knock out all those chips in your skin leaving a dead system. Think about it....

[Tyge @ Feb 22nd 2007 6:01AM]

Revelation 13:16-18(Verichip=666)
He also FORCED EVERYONE, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could BUY OR SELL unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the NUMBER of his name. This calls for WISDOM. If anyone has INSIGHT, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is MAN'S number. His number is 666.

The bible uses words with a hidden meaning to appear poetic and confusing yet still send a hidden mesage to those with wisdom. For example waters are peoples Revelation 17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

The antichrist is not a man...it is ANY MAN who says there is no Christ.1 John 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even NOW already is it in the world.(2030 years ago) 1John 2:18 Little children, it is the last time:(2030 years ago) and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even NOW are there MANY antichrists; whereby we know that IT IS the last time.(2030 years ago The Day of the Lord began when Christ rose from the dead to the judgement seat judging those who die)


(The Beast=a nation The US/UN not Satan)Daniel 7:24 Thus he said, The fourth BEAST shall be the fourth KINGDOM upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the WHOLE EARTH, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. (Horns are kings)And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.

Daniel 8:7 (The Ram is a nation but the beast is many nations...the UN/US/England etc)
And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler (irascibility; anger; wrath) against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns:(Kings) and there was no power in the ram to stand before him,(the UN/US) but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.

Daniel 8:20 The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. (IRAN/IRAQ/ARABS)

Revelation16:16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

Revelation 19:19-20 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

[sarah @ Mar 14th 2007 8:53AM]

although I live in a prison named Islamic Republic of Iran,still believe no one has the right to invade a free soul.
RFID was first demonstrated by researchers from Los Alamos, California in 1973. The most familiar form is the RFID tag, consisting of passive, semi-active, and active RFID chips. The first type needs no battery to act like a wireless sensor network,tho the active ones use battery rather than the antenna and have more transfer rates in comparison to the Kb/S rate of the passive type.This battery helps them to stay on, respond more quickly, and transmit their information more effectively; the trade-off is that when the battery drains, it must be replaced. While passive RFID tags have a typical range of a few meters, active RFID tags can reach dozens or even hundreds of meters. The main advantage of RFID devices is their very low power consumption (a passive RFID device doesn't even require a battery), but they are unable to store large amounts of information and have a very low data transfer rate (usually measured in Kb/s rather then Mb/s).another approach to capture human freedom recently developed is Memory Spot that consumes very little energy and does not require a battery,with 10 Mb/s transfer rate and very close communication range.
Congrats to peaceful scientists of the freeland!

[sarah @ Mar 14th 2007 9:00AM]

although I live in a prison named Islamic Republic of Iran,still believe no one has the right to invade a free soul.
RFID was first demonstrated by researchers from Los Alamos, California in 1973. The most familiar form is the RFID tag, consisting of passive, semi-active, and active RFID chips. The first type needs no battery to act like a wireless sensor network,tho the active ones use battery rather than the antenna and have more transfer rates in comparison to the Kb/S rate of the passive type.This battery helps them to stay on, respond more quickly, and transmit their information more effectively; the trade-off is that when the battery drains, it must be replaced. While passive RFID tags have a typical range of a few meters, active RFID tags can reach dozens or even hundreds of meters. The main advantage of RFID devices is their very low power consumption (a passive RFID device doesn't even require a battery), but they are unable to store large amounts of information and have a very low data transfer rate (usually measured in Kb/s rather then Mb/s).another approach to capture human freedom recently developed is Memory Spot that consumes very little energy and does not require a battery,with 10 Mb/s transfer rate and very close communication range.
Congrats to peaceful scientists of the freeland!

[Hal @ Sep 10th 2007 8:14PM]

VeriChip can go to hell!!!....I WILL NEVER ACCEPT THIS -

[Kendall @ Jul 15th 2008 9:36PM]

Well I agree with the ones saying that this is the Mark of the Beast Because you will not be able to buy or sell save he have the mark and the mark is the number of man it is 666 let him who have wisdom understand God is against this and I will Die before I take the verichip or anything like this a card is good enough for ID and money will do to spend. revelation ch.13 verse 15-18

[Roland Bauman @ Sep 10th 2008 12:36AM]

This is totally what is said in the Bible, read and understand, if you don't I make it somewhat understandable, first of all read some more info on VeriChip here in engadget where a client implanted into them selves so then it would be hacked, note that the subject implanted into the right arm, why not left arm why right, why not stomach, foot, leg, chest. It clearly states in Bible right arm or forehead, next if anybody still don't know what 666 stands for, please read the Bible, in my though has anybody have a clue how upc bar code is written all of those lines represent numbers, if you look close you will notice first you got 2 skinny lines that are longer than others followed by some other then 2 skinny lines again followed by some other then 2 skinny lines again those skinny lines represent the number 6, so when the bar code is read you don't see those numbers as part of a code, and please don't tell me those are there just so the laser can read where it is at, heck why not use thick line or lines that represent different number, why represent the number 6. What are the bar codes used for? To identify the object/product, and now they want to use on people. Just think about if everyone had this chip implanted in them, use it as you credit card, just swipe your hand and it is payed for, cop pulls you over guess what you didn't forger your id it is in you, trying rob bank too bad know one accepts cash all done electronically, no more kidnapping, no more murders, peaceful life. That's what Bible says too, in the end of times there will be a new leader that will bring peace to all world and then he will proclaim his throne as God that's when all the plagues will start, Good luck anyone who stays behind, the people who will not accept the chip will be punished by death, simple as that, because authorities would believe you could do anything you can and they won't able to track you down, so they will ask you choose chip or death,. gee I wonder what would you would choose, in the Bible it clearly states that who ever accepts the mark of the Beast is Doomed. Anyway since I Believe in God and that Jesus is my Savior I shall be risen to Heaven before the chips would be implanted. I suggest that you read the Bible and believe that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for your sins and you too would be saved.