Pages

3/09/2006

My brain was wandering tonight and then I saw this ...

Several weeks ago I posted a news article about RFID chips being inserted under the skin... and today I found another news piece about this trend - hmmm, for some reason I find this intriguing!! And, while I know I wouldn't feel comfortable having a chip implanted under my skin myself, it is interesting to hear that there are people out there doing it. Think it's crazy? Well, I'm guessing that less than 20 years ago body piercing was a crazy thought to most people too (OK, punk rockers excluded). Now it, and tattoos, seem to be the norm.

Anyway, I think it's a new and interesting twist to technology and I can't help but wonder if twenty, ten (maybe even less than five) years from now implanted chips will be the norm. Heck, they do it for pets ...

Computer Chip Love ( ABC news video)

If you can't view the video, here's a related news article.

What are your thoughts about this development? Do you think it's possible that one day we'll be offering the option to authenticate library users by the chip under their skin?

PS: I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the body piercing/tattoo thing is over with by the time my girls reach their teen years. But given the two options, body peircing over a chip under the skin, I'd definitely take the latter! Besides, I could see some definite advantages as a parent to having a teen tagged, can't you? :)

1 comment:

Russell said...

I personally don't like the idea of ME being implanted with a chip, but finding missing children and identifying bodies from disasters could be made easier through the practice. Imagine if you little girl were kidnapped, the kidnapper cut and dyed her hair, and no one could recognize her. But when she escaped or was otherwise found, a simple scan of her embedded chip with her personal information (one that could not be re-programmed) identified her as your child and she was returned to you.

Or imagine the relief felt when a plane crashes and your loved ones remains are identified only by the chip because recognition otherwise would be impossible.