California Bans Mandatory Subdermal RFID Tagging

[DaveJ]

Source: Ars Technica

Paranoiac readers of California, you can now relax thanks to Senate Bill 362. No longer will it be lawful for employers to require you and your coworkers to have RFID chips embedded within your skin. If they are caught doing so the State of California will slap them with an initial $10,000 fine, followed by a subsequent $1,000 fine for each day that the subdermal chip stays implanted. Although to report them you'd have to know about the chip, right? And if your company is the type who'd go around implanting RFID chips within their employees, wouldn't it be within reach for them to secretly implant them as well? Oh great, new things to worry about.


http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070904-california-outlaws-forced-rfid-tagging-of-humans.html


Read more: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/rfid/california-bans-mandatory-subdermal-rfid-tagging-296276.php

[Vilis Veritas]

1. Secretly implant?

How? Anyone comes near me with a needle is going to have to do some explaining...

Peace.

[Javaman]

18. Need your flu shot? nt

[Vilis Veritas]

20. Nope. I'll take my chances.

edited to add: However, I get your point.

Peace.

[havocmom]

27. How big of a needle do they need for that chip?

Clueless about size.

[TheWraith]

31. Way too big for a needle. An incision is needed.

Here's an example of a human-implantable model balanced on somebody's hand.

[havocmom]

32. Ah, that's what I thought. Thanks. Can't sneak THAT in a flu shot

But I pass on those flu shots anyway.

[Freddie Stubbs]

2. It would appear that this bill would still permit it if is is 'voluntary'

[Trillo]

4. Well, if true, it could be another "selection" for climbing the career ladder

Don't want that chip? No promotion and increased pay for you, we might even find a way to cull you from the workforce as a disgruntled employee.

On the other hand, the word "coercing" might even apply therein: "would prohibit a person from requiring, coercing, or compelling any other individual to undergo the subcutaneous implanting of an identification device," So you might not know that the questionnaire you filled out about something else entirely, when you answered you wouldn't allow yourself to be chipped, was used to deny future promotions.

This law seems a reassuring step back from the authoritarian incrementalism of Big Brother.

[DaveJ]

6. That is correct...

It defines "Require, coerce, or compel" as:

"... the conditioning of any private or public benefit or care on consent to implantation, including employment, promotion, or other employment benefit ..."

[guitar man]

3. "did anyone implant anything in my body

...while I was unconscious?"

[MindPilot]

5. It will be implanted during that "mandatory checkup".

"Unscanable! Unscanable!!"

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

9. What about the "flu shot"?

Just what is IN that shot???

[Vilis Veritas]

21. Vaccine?

[tularetom]

7. Just the fact that they had to pass a law banning this makes me paranoid

[onethatcares]

8. for what purpose would a company want to implant its' employees?

to find out what they do after working hours? WTF? I don't understand this one at all.

[BattyDem]

10. That's my question, too.

What reason could a company have for tracking you 24/7 with an RFID? :shrug:

[TheWraith]

16. It doesn't work that way. It's not like a GPS.

An RFID chip is a little bit of metal that reports specific information--usually a few lines of text, sometimes up to paragraphs--when it's scanned by the right hardware. It has no data gathering or alteration abilities of its own. They're often used to tag merchandise in department stores, identify wayward pets, and provide un-losable emergency medical information for people with severe allergies or the like. They could also be used as a form of authentication: if you don't have the chip, you must not be an authorized person, so you don't get access to the building, files, etcetera.

[BattyDem]

17. Thank you for the info

:hi:

[onethatcares]

25. no, it's not like a gps, but

if you are wearing the chip and pass thru a scanner that reads it, then you are no more than a piece of merchandise that the makers know where it's been made, where it's been stocked and sold, who bought it. Not at all like a gps. If it was for a job, they could kiss my pimpled white butt before I let them put something under my skin.

[TheWraith]

30. You know that RFID readers aren't universal, right?

The readers at Walmart wouldn't know or care about an RFID from an employer. Not saying the idea isn't creepy and to be discouraged, just saying that it's not like that movie Impostor where they know every citizen's location when they go through a checkpoint.

[havocmom]

28. OK, what about the work on weapons to disable anything with a microchip?

How would that likely affect a tagged human?

Serious question, no matter how dumb it may sound to those in the know. I really am clueless about these things. (also clueless as to why anyone would have the things implanted, but recall the DOD talking about it recently)

[TheWraith]

29. Such a weapon would probably fry the RFID tag.

No damage to the human, or possibly a small minor burn at the implant site.

[UncleSepp]

26. It's like an ID badge you can't see or lose.

It can take the place of a smart card plus proximity badge. With a properly implemented system, a person with an implated RFID tag could walk up to any door they wanted to go through, and the door would unlock or remain locked based on that person's level of access. The RFID tag can also be used for remote access to secure networks as well. For a workplace requiring both security and discretion, implanted RFID might be a reasonable alternative to the visible badge.

For hazardous work environments, the RFID tag could be used to locate an individual within a facility fitted with RFID readers and to determine if that person is moving or stationary, which would help guide rescue workers. The RFID tag itself could be used to store information such as the individual's blood type, medical conditions, prescription medications and physician and emergency contacts in order to assist disaster responders in the event the person is not lucid or is unconscious.

[lvx35]

11. Yeah, good post, and good questions.

And yes, its well within may companies to try to secretly implant their employees. You have to remember the whole ideology of monarchy, which does things like assert the supreme power of the President, does not consider all created equal, and is happy to treat a large class of people as animals.

To those who wonder whay kind of companies, you have to bear in mind we're not talking about Target or Safeway. You have to remember that what you see on the Sopranos is real, and in fact actual modern crime syndicates are way, way more advanced than old Tony and pals, and they control a lot of companies.

[LanternWaste]

19. outside of bad sci-fi films

Are we aware of any oganizations secretly implanting chips micro-chips into their employees (outside of bad sci-fi films, that is...)?

[lvx35]

23. No, we are not aware of that.

But we can look at the general trends, chips by consent, chips in pets, talk of implanting suspected terrorists, asking if you have implants under your skin when you beep at the airport, etc. and wonder about the legislation being passed by these states, not to mention the difficult nature of detecting or prosecuting cases where a generally "silent" chip is implanted, and we can cross reference it to the huge black market for information related to personal tracking, the sale of cell phone records and cell phone location information, and we can realize that its really not much of a stretch.

[Trillo]

24. Yes. "So far around 70 people in the US have had the implants"

Several months back some employees were chipped for access to something. Don't remember all the details, but this might be it:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/ec414700-9bf4-11da-8baa-0000779e2340,s01=1.html

The Pentagon has studied chipping soldiers in some detail, I understand from reading news reports.

[LanternWaste]

33. The chips-- they were put in secretly?

The chips-- they were put in secretly?

(link doesn't work for me...)

[AX10]

12. K & R!

[truthisfreedom]

13. Don't worry. All you have to do is climb into a large microwave oven and turn it on for a few

seconds. Your RFID will explode and you'll be fine, except for a slight headache and some mild internal organ hemmhoraging.

[Vilis Veritas]

22. Of course, we could all just wear these spiffy undergarments...

http://www.lessemf.com/personal.html

I don't like dosing myself with radiation...much rather wear cool undies! ;-)

Peace.

[silverojo]

14. All I can say is...WTF?!?

Now Big Brother is trying to get under our skins? :scared:

[ProudDad]

15. Corporations are capable of anything

They are Psychopaths...

THE PATHOLOGY OF COMMERCE: CASE HISTORIES

To assess the "personality" of the corporate "person," a checklist is employed, using diagnostic criteria of the World Health Organization and the standard diagnostic tool of psychiatrists and psychologists. The operational principles of the corporation give it a highly anti-social "personality": it is self-interested, inherently amoral, callous and deceitful; it breaches social and legal standards to get its way; it does not suffer from guilt, yet it can mimic the human qualities of empathy, caring and altruism. Four case studies, drawn from a universe of corporate activity, clearly demonstrate harm to workers, human health, animals and the biosphere. Concluding this point-by-point analysis, a disturbing diagnosis is delivered: the institutional embodiment of laissez-faire capitalism fully meets the diagnostic criteria of a "psychopath."

http://www.thecorporation.com/index.cfm


They are capable of anything...as long as they believe that it increases shareholder equity...