Your personal data is not stored in the chip - it is in your medical information file at VeriChip. The main issues I have with VeriChip as an alternative to MedicAlert are:
- It is an implanted device - any foreign object implanted in the body has to have compelling justification.
- There are concerns about safety in patients who go through MRI imaging with an implanted RFID chip.
- There are more cost-effective low-tech alternatives that already exist, such as MedicAlert and (in a hospital setting) simple hospital ID bracelets.
- CMS/Medicare is already promoting Personal Health Record systems, and there will be pressure to link any implanted ID to a system operating under government control. This will breed distrust and concern about abuse.
- If the ID number in your RFID could be linked to your identity by some third party (such as the government) and used for another purpose (like tracking your movements), that would be a serious breach of privacy.
- Many RFID device can be triggered as you pass through a turnstile or doorway, so it is possible for the device to be triggered without your knowledge or consent.

MedicAlert is a low-tech alternative with extensive infrastructure already in place, so there needs to be some compelling reason to justify something as intrusive as an implanted RFID device, especially with the issues it creates related to MRI use.

Would I recommend and RFID implant for someone with Alzheimers’ Disease or other dementia where there is a clear risk that they may wander off without carrying any identification and need urgent medical attention? I’d certainly have to consider the circumstances, but would have serious misgivings.

What other circumstances could possibly justify use of an RFID implant for a competent adult? Someone who suffers from somnambulism and is at risk of going for an extended walk in their pajamas and getting hit by a car? They would probably still have their MedicAlert bracelet or necklace.

Other than the very special circumstances I’ve outlined above, I’ll limit the use of RFID implants to my pets.

As far a chips, there are concerns of technology in the wrong hands. The benevolency of government can easily turn on a dime to produce a monster even within a democracy, if certain freedoms such as the right to privacy are not maintained.

What about encoding of information such as history of sexually transmitted disease? What if a person had a treated STD years ago and wishes the information not to be in the public health market? Can a chip give selective and pertinent medical data, as opposed to being all inclusive? Hmmm.

Our technology will surpass the wisdom of application in the end.

Tammy Swofford

Apart from biblical references, the fact is that having a chip is dehumanizing. Itr treats people as though they are branded cattle and as we head closer to totalitarianism, it is not inconceivable that a government couldn’t abuse it.

If it is outside the body: You are in control of who can track you and have access to your medical info. Inside the body: THEY ARE IN CONTROL.

I think that whenever RFID tags are used for transmitting information about people, there are going to be security and privacy concerns. Even if the implantable RFID tag only transmits an identification code for a database, there’s a potential for misuse if someone who intercepts that info also successfully hacks the database that actually contains a person’s medical data. Additionally, whenever an ID system is created, there’s no guarantee that it won’t someday be used for other purposes besides the one for which it was created. If a private sector RFID personal identification system became ubiquitous, it’s conceivable that the government ultimately could compel the company who owns the system to provide access, so that it can use the chips for identifying individuals and/or gain access to their personal information.

And it was given unto him to give breath to it, even to the image to the breast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as should not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man should be able to buy or to sell, save he that hath the mark, even the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man: and his number is Six hundred and sixty and six.

…And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God.

The question is are you a terrorist? Well, then what do you have to worry about take the Veri(fy)Chip RFID in your right arm (hand) and scan your eye (forehead) and we all will know that you have nothing to hide.

Just remember if you decision process is based on fear it’s not from the Father its from the father of this system. We are all so selfish. One day, maybe, you will look up and see that your are NOT god. Doesn’t the father of this system tell you, “you can do whatever, surely you will not die. You will be as god” (original sin). So must of us do this daily. WAKE UP!