Chips implanted in City Watcher employees in Ohio

Published on Monday, February 13, 2006 by the Financial Times
US Group Implants Electronic Tags in Workers
by Richard Waters


An Ohio company has embedded silicon chips in two of its employees -
the
first known case in which US workers have been ?tagged? electronically
as a
way of identifying them.

CityWatcher.com, a private video surveillance company, said it was
testing
the technology as a way of controlling access to a room where it holds
security video footage for government agencies and the police.

Embedding slivers of silicon in workers is likely to add to the
controversy
over RFID technology, widely seen as one of the next big growth
industries.

RFID chips ? inexpensive radio transmitters that give off a unique
identifying signal ? have been implanted in pets or attached to goods
so
they can be tracked in transit.

?There are very serious privacy and civil liberty issues of having
people
permanently numbered,? said Liz McIntyre, who campaigns against the use
of
identification technology.

But Sean Darks, chief executive of CityWatcher, said the glass-encased
chips
were like identity cards. They are planted in the upper right arm of
the
recipient, and ?read? by a device similar to a cardreader.

?There?s nothing pulsing or sending out a signal,? said Mr Darks, who
has
had a chip in his own arm. ?It?s not a GPS chip. My wife can?t tell
where I
am.?

The technology?s defenders say it is acceptable as long as it is not
compulsory. But critics say any implanted device could be used to track
the
?wearer? without their knowledge.

VeriChip ? the US company that made the devices and claims to have the
only
chips that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration ?
said the
implants were designed primarily for medical purposes.

So far around 70 people in the US have had the implants, the company
said.

© Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2006

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