Big Brother Gets Under Your
Skin
Source: WorldNet Daily
Big Brother Gets Under Your Skin: Ultimate ID Badge,
Transceiver Implanted In Human
New implant technology currently used to locate lost
pets has been adapted for use in humans, allowing implant wearers to
emit a homing beacon, have vital bodily functions monitored and
confirm identity when making e-commerce transactions.
Applied Digital Solutions, an e-business to business
solutions provider, acquired the patent rights to the miniature
digital transceiver it has named "Digital Angel®." The company plans
to market the device for a number of uses, including as a
"tamper-proof means of identification for enhanced
e-business security."
Digital Angel® sends and receives data and can be
continuously tracked by global positioning satellite technology. When
implanted within a body, the device is powered electromechanically
through the movement of muscles and can be activated either by the
"wearer" or by a monitoring facility.
"We believe its potential for improving individual and
e-business security and enhancing the quality of life for millions of
people is virtually limitless," said ADS Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer Richard Sullivan. "Although we're in the early developmental
phase, we expect to come forward with applications in many different
areas, from medical monitoring to
law enforcement. However, in keeping with our core strengths in the
e-business to business arena, we plan to focus our initial development
efforts on the growing field of e-commerce security and user ID
verification."
Dr. Peter Zhou, chief scientist for development of the
implant and president of DigitalAngel.net, Inc, a subsidiary of ADS,
told WorldNetDaily the device will send a signal from the person
wearing Digital Angel® to either his computer or the e-merchant with
whom he is doing business in order to verify his identity.
In the future, said Zhou, computers may be programmed
not to operate without such user identification. As previously
reported in WND, user verification devices requiring a live
fingerprint scan are already being sold by computer manufacturers.
Digital Angel® takes such biometric technology a giant step further by
physically joining human and machine.
But e-commerce is only one field to which Digital Angel®
applies. The device's patent describes it as a rescue beacon for
kidnapped children and missing persons. According to Zhou, the implant
will save money by reducing resources used in rescue operations for
athletes, including mountain climbers and skiers.
Law enforcement may employ the implant to keep track of
criminals under house arrest, as well as reduce emergency response
time by immediately locating individuals in distress.
The device also has the ability to monitor the user's
heart rate, blood pressure and other vital functions.
"Your doctor will know the problem before you do," said
Zhou, noting peace of mind is possible for at-risk patients who can
rest in the knowledge that help will be on the way should anything go
wrong.
Indeed, peace of mind is Digital Angel®'s main selling
point.
"Ideally," the patent states, "the device will bring
peace of mind and an increased quality of life for those who use it,
and for their families, loved ones, and associates who depend on them
critically."
Referring to the threat of kidnapping, the patent goes
on to say, "Adults who are at risk due to their economic or political
status, as well as their children who may be at risk of being
kidnapped, will reap new freedoms in their everyday lives by employing
the device."
Digital Angel®'s developer told WND demand for the
implant has been tremendous since ADS announced its acquisition of the
patent in December.
"We have received requests daily from around the world
for the product," Zhou said, mentioning South America, Mexico and
Spain as examples.
One inquirer was the U.S. Department of Defense, through
a contractor, according to Zhou. American soldiers may be required to
wear the implant so their whereabouts and health conditions can be
accessed at all times, said the scientist.
Illustration of application of Digital Angel(R) from
DigitalAngel.net website.
As of yet, there is no central DigitalAngel.net facility
that would do the job of monitoring users -- the task will most likely
fall to the entities marketing the device, said Zhou. For example, if
a medical group decides to market Digital Angel® to its patients, that
group would set up its own monitoring station to check on its
device-users.
Likewise, militaries employing the implant will want to
maintain their own monitoring stations for security purposes.
But for critics, military use of the implant is not at
the top of their list of objections to the new technology. ADS has
received complaints from Christians and others who believe the implant
could be the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy.
The Book of Revelation states all people will be
required to "receive a mark in their right hand, or in their
foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the
mark." (Rev. 13: 16-17)
In an increasingly cashless society where identity
verification is essential for financial transactions, some Christians
view Digital Angel®'s ID and e-commerce applications as a form of the
biblical "mark of the beast."
But Zhou dismisses such objections to the implant.
"I am a Christian, but I don't think [that argument]
makes sense," he told WND. "The purpose of the device is to save your
life and improve the quality of life. There's no connection to the
Bible. There are different interpretations of the Bible. My
interpretation is, anything to improve the quality of life is from
God. The Bible says, 'I am the God of living people.' We not only
live, we live well."
Sullivan, responding to religious objections to his
product, told WorldNetDaily no one will be forced to wear Digital
Angel®.
"We live in a voluntary society," he said. According to
the CEO, individuals may choose not to take advantage of the
technology.
Zhou alluded to some Christians' objection to medicine
per se, adding such opposition wanes when the life-saving,
life-improving benefits of technology are realized.
"A few years ago there may have been resistance, but not
anymore," he continued. "People are getting used to having implants.
New century, new trend."
Zhou compared Digital Angel® to pacemakers, which
regulate a user's heart rate. Pacemakers used to be seen as bizarre,
said Zhou, but now they are part of everyday life. Digital Angel® will
be received the same way, he added.
Vaccines are another good comparison, said the
scientist, who noted, "Both save your life. When vaccines came out,
people were against them. But now we don't even think about it."
Digital Angel®, Zhou believes, could become as prevalent
as a vaccine.
"Fifty years from now this will be very, very popular.
Fifty years ago the thought of a cell phone, where you could walk
around talking on the phone, was unimaginable. Now they are
everywhere," Zhou explained.
Just like the cell phone, Digital Angel® "will be a
connection from yourself to the electronic world. It will be your
guardian, protector. It will bring good things to you."
"We will be a hybrid of electronic intelligence and our
own soul," Zhou concluded.
In the process of merging with Destron Fearing Corp., a
manufacturer and marketer of electronic and visual identification
devices for animals, DigitalAngel.net is scheduled to complete a
prototype of the dime-sized implant by year's end. Company executives
hope to make the device affordable
for individuals, though no cost projections have been made.
ADS, DigitalAngel.net's parent company, received a
special "Technology Pioneers" award from the World Economic Forum for
its contributions to "worldwide economic development and social
progress through technology advancements."
The World Economic Forum, incorporated in 1971 with
headquarters in Geneva, is an independent, not-for-profit organization
"committed to improving the state of the world." WEF is currently
preparing for its "China Business Summit" in Beijing next month for
the purpose of forging new economic alliances with the communist
nation.
By Julie Foster
© 2000 WorldNetDaily.com
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