DrStraw wrote:
Absolutely not. Apart from the privacy concerns I would be very worried about cancer. It is already proven that a cell phone next to the brain causes cancer. Imagine what it would do if it were inside you.
A chip is not a cell-phone, please do not mix those two together.
Here is what I know about that, correct me if I am wrong, have been out of the loop for a while.
Health Issues:
From what I heard of such chips, there is at least one huge difference between them and cell phones: the chips are passive. This means that all the energy will be incoming, not outgoing - i.e. not generated by the chip. And the energy which will be incoming, will be incoming regardless if you have a chip embedded or not. You have sensors in the walls or doors or whatever, they send signals which intend to bounce off of the chip. You will still be exposed to those energies regardless if you have a chip inplanted or not. Just like you are exposed to radio frequencies if you own a radio or not - the radio waves are all around you, and they don't care if you have a receiver.
So if you are afraid about getting cancer, the chip will have absolutely no role in that, unless it actually dissolves in your body or something and the chemicals make you sick.
The danger from cell phones is not really energy levels by themselves (sitting under a light bulb too long exposes you to more energy than talking on the cellphone, so does cooking a dinner) - it is also the frequency which modulates this energy. The frequency which queries the chip will be important, but the situation can possibly be structured so that it is harmless. Both in its frequency and its intensity.
And anyways, as said above, you will be exposed if you have a microchip or not.
As a matter of fact, you are already exposed if your company (or any other place you frequent) requires badges to open doors - the badge readers are pretty much the same technology as microchip readers. Or if you go to stores which have the new fancy credit card readers which only require you to swipe the card in front of a panel instead of through the slot.
Its more like dogs and cats being micro-chipped, and have been for years, if not decades. I have not heard of any correlation of pet microchipping to pet cancer, have you? As far as I know, there is no adverse effects. Wildlife specimen (sharks, whales, rhinos, etc.) have been microchipped for decades as well, without any adverse health effects neither, afaik.
Privacy Issues:
Privacy issue is another matter, one which I do not quite understand, although admittedly I know a little less about that. I am skeptical, though.
But what is the fear, really? That the chip will broadcast your wereabouts to some secred data-gathering organization so it can be used against you when the government decides to... what, exactly? Steal your carrots? Give you more health insurance?
As said above - such chips do not broadcast, and if somebody really wants to target you personally and figure out where you go and what you do every day - there are easier ways. Cell phones for example. Cars. Credit cards. Or simply call and ask a nosy neighbor.
Seriously, what is the big "privacy" argument. All I ever heard about that is "I don't what *them* to track me" - like *they*, whoever *they* are, don't really have anything better to do. Unless you get on *their* radar, that is... but at this point, it might actually be better if you are tracked.
Personally:
Anyways... having said the above, I don't think I would like to be microchipped. Too much hassle, and I hate needles. There is nothing wrong with a regular badge, I think. Still, if this was to become a rule in my company, I would not object too much.
I guess the biggest problem I have with such chipping is this: what happens when I quit the job? Will they have to surgically remove the chip? Or will the system de-register my chip, and the system in my next job register it so I can use it there? This would be a logical choice, but there might be some security issues then.
And I hate surgeries even more than I hate needles.
. I've heard the "if you've got nothing to hide you've got nothing to worry about" argument but that assumes the 'people in power' always act for the common good - which seems a little naive.
