RFID Chips Invading the DC Area

Well isn’t this just ducky. If living in the DC area weren’t bad enough already, now we have more attacks on our humanity. In addition to terrorist attacks, the sniper scare, anthrax spores and worst of all - politicians, now our bodies are being invaded by RFID chips. Apparently Verichip has decided to descend upon the DC area to test out their new body implants - chips embedded in the body that have your medical history embedded:

Some doctors are welcoming the technology as an exciting innovation that will speed care and prevent errors. But the concept alarms privacy advocates. They worry the devices could make it easier for unauthorized snoops to invade medical records. They also fear that the technology marks a dangerous step toward an Orwellian future in which people will be monitored using the chips or will be required to have them inserted for surveillance.

“It may seem innocuous, but the government and private corporations could use these devices to track people’s movements,” said Liz McIntyre, who co-wrote a book warning about the dangers of such radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology. “It may sound paranoid, but this is bound to be abused.”

One wonders if its just a matter of time before people have whole sets of embedded RFID chips for everything from Metro farecards to Starbucks Latte preferences to state drivers licenses. At that point, some entrepreneurial soul will bring to market a multi-functional, “personalized” RFID pass card for all our invasive RFID needs - we might call this an RFID “multi-pass.” Once the masses buy into this idea, I’m sure I’ll run into some hot chick checking out her merchandise at a Walmart, who says to the casher, “Leeloo Dallas, Multipass!” Suffice to say I won’t be getting in the “Tag my ass now” line anytime soon.