SCAN THIS NEWS 5/19/99

RE: Who can I talk to about IDs for school lunch programs?

Hello Eric:

In response to your request for input on the "pros and cons" of some of the various methods and technologies that could be used to identify, monitor, and track children in the administration of school lunch programs, I have the following to offer.

I am thoroughly convinced that as you explore this issue you will ultimately conclude, the only truly secure method for record keeping and monitoring of children is to use implantable microchip IDs.

Implanted microchips are the only solution where "positive identification" is perceived as a need. All of the other techniques you mentioned - i.e. ID number, fingerprint scans, and voices recognition - are too fallible. They are all prone to error and hacking. They are not reliable.

With implanted microchips, a complete and accurate accounting can be made of each child's lunch purchase. Each child can be numbered, monitored, and tracked with no obtrusive interaction with the monitoring system. In fact, the children will not even know when or how they are being tracked, monitored, and counted.

Keep in mind: Kids and adults forget login passwords and numbers. People are already becoming tired of all the many different cards and digital keys they have to keep up with. And, logging in and out of systems takes up too much time using conventional identification techniques. To suggest yet another one of the conventional methods is not likely to sell well with a finicky public. For these and other reasons which I will get into, I'm certain you will ultimately conclude - after long, careful study - that implanted microchips are your best choice. They are the only identification technology which will both eliminate the inherent potential for errors and at the same time relieve the recipient of the inconveniences of multiple cards, memorized numbers, and arcane passwords.

Let's face it: ID numbers, ID cards, voice recognition, fingerscans, etc., all require considerable, time-consuming interaction with the "accounting device" - whatever that turns out to be. Imagine each student, for instance, having to pause upon entering school to get their finger scanned, then again when they go outside for Physical Education, another time when they came back in, and once again when they leave school at the end of the day. Add to this all the other interactions where ID is necessary, such as the lunch program, testing, counseling, field trips, ball games, after school activities, and - well, you get the idea. All this would add hours to the school day!

The implanted microchip will eliminate all this time-consuming interaction.

Oh sure, there'll be numerous programs implemented in the interim using conventional systems. But ultimately, all of these will be deemed unreliable, tamper-prone, cumbersome to use, and generally unworkable. Why waste time on the other technologies when they are destined to fail?

You would, however, be truly remiss to limit your thinking to only the school lunch program.

As you are undoubtedly aware, considerable attention is being given presently to the issue of safety in public schools. Everyone, from the President and U.S. Attorney General on down through Congress, is currently wrestling with the problem of how to protect children in school. It's perfectly conceivable that whoever first suggests the implanted microchip ID system for school children will be sitting on a virtual gold mine. The key to success will be to time the proposal to coincide with some national tragedy or emergency. A cadre of Congressmen and legislators will also first have to be cultivated. Additionally, you'll need an established bleeding-hearts organization to beat the media drum - the anti-gun groups are well-seasoned at this task. Then, when the tragedy hits and everyone is rushing to adopt a "solution" - any solution - spring the microchip proposal. This is a tried and proven method. The legislation will, of course, need to have already been drafted well ahead of time, so get an early start.

As you know, the pilot programs for microchip implants using animals have been a huge success. The initial phase was to implant non-domesticated animals such as cows and other livestock. The program was then moved on into the domesticated animal group. Initially, there where some who were skeptical of whether the public would accept this application. Those fears were quickly abated, however, when the public rushed out in droves to get their dogs and cats chipped. Very soon, a whole generation of kids will have grown up around pets having an ID microchip buried just under their flesh. These kids will have seen that their cuddly little Fido and cute little Felix had no adverse affect whatsoever from the tiny number-encoded implant that can't be seen or felt.

Unquestionably, the conditioning process is ripe for moving on to children. I doubt there will be much serious objection from the majority of parents who have, after all, already VOLUNTARILY gotten their children numbered and their pets chipped.

In case you are not already familiar with the technology, implantable microchips are about the size of a grain of rice. Each one has a unique number programmed into it. The ones used for animals, marketed in North America primarily by Avid, use the numbering convention of: NNN-NNN-NNN (with "N" representing a numerical digit). These nine-digit numbers, not coincidentally, correspond nicely with the Social Security Number which also has nine digits in the format: NNN-NN-NNNN. Each child's SSN could simply be programmed into their individual chip, alleviating the need to develop yet another numbering system. The implant only takes a minute and can be done using local anesthesia. All children in a given school could be chipped in a single day.

With present technology, microchip data can be scanned from slightly more than a foot away. As improvements are made, the distance for scanning will be increased to several feet and perhaps several yards very soon. The scanners themselves cost only few hundred dollars and the cost will quickly go down as more go into use.

Implanted microchips will stay permanently attached to their host for as long as their flesh clings to their bones - they last for ever.

Remember, the attraction for implanted microchips goes far, FAR beyond the obvious benefits of simply tracking kids through school. Once the entire population is chipped, State and Federal government agencies throughout the world will finally have a tool to completely eliminate all crime. The problems of terrorism, dead-beat dads, illegal aliens, welfare fraud, insurance fraud, tax cheats, AND ALL OTHER CRIMES will be totally and completely eliminated once the microchip concept is launched!

Eventually, chip scanners will, by law, be required at entrances to all publicly-accessible buildings. The precedence for this was set when governments began requiring handicap parking spaces at all public facilities, and with the bans on smoking in privately-owned public establishments. It will be a simple matter - with the justification of eliminating crime and fraud - to require every establishment to install microchip scanners at all entrances and then only to allow access to those individuals whose chip-scan is approved. This in itself could effectively eliminate robberies.

Businesses will only be allowed to hire workers who have chips; this will serve to crack down on the employment of illegal-immigrants. Only those people with chips will be allowed to drive so that the state can get "bad drivers" off the road. No one will be allowed to board a plane without a chip; this will eliminate international terrorism. All purchases will necessitate a microchip implant which will stop check-writing and credit card fraud. No public, social benefits will be allowed unless and until the recipient has a chip - of course to stop welfare fraud.

A lifetime of information can be easily databased using a microchip system. All movement, transactions, and interactions can be recorded and monitored once everyone has their own unique identifier. Every detail of a person's life will finally be accessible to authorities through the wide-spread use of implanted ID chips. This will take several years - perhaps even a generation - to fully implement however. But, it must begin somewhere and school children are the most likely candidate.

All of the tools and mechanisms to enforce compliance are already available and in place. And the public has demonstrated a readiness and willingness to accept such a system.

Once the idea catches on, the "implantees" will undoubtedly see the huge benefit of using their microchips for all of their routine monitoring and control applications that they have become so fondly accustomed to - such as licensing, identification, check-writing, traveling, buying and selling, voting, etc. As you can see, the possibilities are truly endless. They'll appreciate the "safety and security" the microchips provide.

You may ask: What if some ungrateful social misfit thinks he can "escape the system" and attempts to surgically remove his chip? The answer is simple, he'll not be able to function socially without one! The framework for this was developed and established with the Social Security Number. In the future, all transactions and social interactions will require a machine-readable implanted microchip in place of the number. Chip scanners will be installed everywhere; just like the product scanners are now.

O.K., there'll be some opposition at first. There'll be those who'll put up a small amount of resistance. Some will holler: "The Constitution this, and the Constitution that." But only those social misfits, kooks, and rebels with something to hide will hold out strongly. Little will they know, the very act of objecting, in itself, will suffice to "identify" them as trouble-makers. They can then be arrested and force-chipped as part of the booking process! Besides, most Americans - after they've been reminded of all benefits and services they will sacrifice if they refuse - will soon acquiesce. This is how it worked when Congress enacted laws to coerce parents into numbering their children at birth. A few grumbled for a short while. But, once the threat of no-longer being able to claim their children on tax returns set in, they got right in line down at the Social Security Administration and had their children numbered, one-by-one.

Besides, give me one good reason that a responsible member of society would object to a simple little ID chip, in light of all the benefits to society they would provide?

The injections hurt only slightly more than ear-piercing, and nowadays they're piercing every conceivable part of their body. It's many-times less painful than circumcision. After a short healing period, the chips are completely painless, can't be felt, and can't be seen. With all the convenience they'll provide to both society and individuals alike, why should anyone object? Clearly, only lawbreakers with something to hide will complain.

Don't give me that religious argument. Everyone will still have a right to believe anything they want to. Besides, no one's going to force anyone to get a chip; they just simply won't be able to function in normal society without it. It'll be each individual's own choice whether to get one or not.

By the way, since the public schools have been so successful in their "drug and sedate" campaign, most of the "problem" kids - the "rebels" - are already on Ritalin and Prozac. As a result, they won't be capable of resisting and therefore the microchip program is going to be much easier to get established there.

Thanks for contacting me and providing an opportunity for me to address this subject.

Sincerely,

Scott McDonald

-- Blue Himalayan (bh@k2.y), May 20, 1999

Answers

I DON'T BLOODY THINK SO! Not my kid. Not me.

The system for turnpike passes already exists. It operates from a distance of feet -- not inches -- away from the passing car.

-- shy ann (really@shy.com), May 20, 1999.

Blue Himalayan,...I'm responding mostly because of the title of your thread, although, I think the notion of chip implants and national IDs is insidious, and thankfully, probably not feasible.

What I wanted to comment on was the notion that I am a person, not a number,...not a dot on a demographers map, as politicians are wont to think of me as. (sorry about the cruddy syntax)

As I turned 30,...about 1982, the whole insane concept of 'winnable nuclear war' landed heavily upon me, and I was insane for awhile. I wrote to the then august Ronald Reagan to suggest to him that it was important to begin a photo sending session to our so-called enemies in the then Soviet Union...I told him I was NOT a dot on a demographer's map,...that I was a person, and that I had a husband and children, as did so many in the so-called evil empire...I told him that it was hard to kill people I had seen, and known something about...I have a face,...a life...hopes and dreams like everyone else....I sent photos...I got back a nice form letter with some government-speak about "arms", and "building down".

I just wanted to tell you to keep yelling that you ARE a person....a human being...and to tell everyone to refuse to submit to tyranny, no matter what spin is put on it.

-- Donna (moment@pacbell.net), May 20, 1999.

People like this simply do not understand what it means to be human.

"Remember, the attraction for implanted microchips goes far, FAR beyond the obvious benefits of simply tracking kids through school. Once the entire population is chipped, State and Federal government agencies throughout the world will finally have a tool to completely eliminate all crime. The problems of terrorism,dead-beat dads, illegal aliens, welfare fraud, insurance fraud, tax cheats, AND ALL OTHER CRIMES willbe totally and completely eliminated once the microchip concept is launched!"

Humans are a little to clever to not figure out ways of getting around this one. Besides, I'd rather live in a society that has to deal with the problems listed above, than in a boring sanitized electronically lobotomitized society.

"Don't give me that religious argument. Everyone will still have a right to believe anything they want to. Besides, no one's going to force anyone to get a chip; they just simply won't be able to function in normal society without it. It'll be each individual's own choice whether to get one or not."

Well, there goes the getting rid of crime theory. They'll have a two tier society, like in all those stupid science fiction movies, where the proles live underground and the beautiful people inhabit the surface.

People like whoever wrote the above are truley dangerous, and they don't even realize it...

-- . (.@...), May 20, 1999.

Don't worry, it'll be awhile -- the software will be written by Microsoft...and they're promising it by next year.

-- a (a@a.a), May 20, 1999.

Blue Himalayan:

The essay you posted actually gave me chills! This would be very easy for the government to implement - after all, we already have to have social security numbers on each of our children in order to claim them as deductions on our income tax returns. I am not familiar with Scott McDonald - who is he exactly?

-- Scarlett (creolady@aol.com), May 20, 1999.

>>>People like whoever wrote the above are truley dangerous, and they don't even realize it...

-- . (.@...)<<<

Yes, but . (.@...), the people who wrote all that are not real people, and not in the majority...we are only TOLD they are, and that this is a mainstream idea. I know of course it is not. I don't predict that most human beings will submit to this kind of surveillance. Governments can wish it; it will not make it so.

-- Donna (moment@pacbell.net), May 20, 1999.

Uh, guys 'n' gals? That post from "Le Chat Azure" was pretty clearly satirical. The tone was just a bit too smooth for such "hot" content. I did a search and found what seems to be the source: NetworkUSA

They offer an e-mail newsletter, so I think it's safe to assume that BH is a subscriber and that the posting was from a recent mailing. What say ye, BH?

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), May 20, 1999.

Good joke, laugh here.

Correct me if I'm wrong,

" All you need is a short, sharp, shock...can you dig it? " ( Pink Floyd )

I know when I was working with 120v ac and got hooked up, I'd have to get new credit cards and drivers lic. Aren't microchips sensitive to shocks? How much?

-- CT (ct@no.yr), May 20, 1999.

Let's see, who is a nice, respectable citizen I could cut one out of for my use?

-- A (A@AisA.com), May 20, 1999.

I would really appreciate the opportunity to implant microchips in people. Everyone would certainly disagree with the late Benjamin Franklin, who said (paraphrased): "Those who would give up their liberty for a sense of security deserve NEITHER." Of course crime would plummet. But I would like to slightly modify the suggestion offered in the original post. IMPLANT THE MICROCHIPS ONLY IN THOSE HOLDING PUBLIC OFFICE OR EMPLOYED BY A GOVERNMENT AGENCY. Only then would crime surely plummet. Thank you.

-- Addy Hittlerr (AHittlerr@tyranny.com), May 20, 1999.

>>>IMPLANT THE MICROCHIPS ONLY IN THOSE HOLDING PUBLIC OFFICE OR EMPLOYED BY A GOVERNMENT AGENCY. Only then would crime surely plummet. Thank you.<<<

Here, here!

-- Donna (moment@pacbell.net), May 20, 1999.

The coming of the micro-chip is inevitable. Laugh now cry later. If this is proposed to congress, do you really think they will have the guts to say no, especially with the current spin machine in place. Of course its for the children and anyone who doesn't go along will be labeled as an extremist.

-- nnt (noneedtoknow@usa.com), May 20, 1999.

Blue - I guess you did not read my link a few weeks ago to the guys who totally solved the quick ID problem. No implant of any sort is needed. The iris of the eye can be read like a natural barcode. It is at least as unique as a fingerprint, and much easier for a computer to scan. Please note that this is a scan of the patterns of the IRIS, the colored part of the eye, not the retinal scan that you hear about, and never encounter. Iris scanning technology has already been deployed with great success.

So if it bothers you that soon you will be totally identifiable, you had just as well accept it - the only way to avoid your iris being scanned will be to not use banks, checks or credit cards. The iris scanning technology will be as common as a barcode scanner within 5 years. And no one is going to force you to use one - you will just give in and do it because you will make so much inconvinence for yourself if you don't do it.

If you have concerns about privacy, I suggest you start lobbying for stronger privacy laws.

And just as a BTW - the iris technology can already read your eye from a distance of about two feet.

And you cannot "hack" or alter your iris - not with any technology yet developed - contact lenses dark enough to prevent reading will also be dark enough to make you effectively blind. Same objection to surgery - just blind yourself and get it over with.

And just think - nobody has to require you to have eyes - save for a very small minority of the population, everyone has eyes, and everyone has a pair of irises.

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), May 20, 1999.

Sure, that's it....lobby the folks who want citizens to have less privacy for more privacy laws...Puleease...Why is the first hot-iron response for more government regulation? It is true what is said that Western people don't understand the first thing about freedom. When California inacted the first mandatory thumbprint on drivers' licenses I was one of the first to put a thin coat of superglue on my thumb before applying for license renewal. It is important to state over and over to everyone that the government has no right to your DNA, or any other bodily fluids, substances, photos...

I'm reminded of the novel "Farenheit 451", by Ray Bradbury,...where all people are required to submit photos including ones of the back of their heads. Later in the story you see on TV the government pursuing the "criminal", and the next footage is of the government capturing the "criminal", proving it by showing photos of the back of his head. It is important to understand how freedoms are usurped in increments, dearhearts.

-- Donna (moment@pacbell.net), May 20, 1999.

Yep Mac you're correct, that's the source.

I just couldn't turn my tail to that catnip...

Donna and everybody hang in there.

To "." It is a satire!

But coming soon anyway, to a society near you.

-- Blue Himalayan (bh@k2.y), May 20, 1999.

Somebody always seems to say it better than I can....

"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding. ' Louis D. Brandeis (1856-1941) - American judge, Supreme Court Justice

-- Norm Harrold (nharrold@tymewyse.com), May 20, 1999.

I scanned a book by Texe Marrs title "L.U.C.I.D"; if I recall correctly its an acronym for Logical Universal Citizen Identification or something, anyway it is really out there. It describes in detail the chip implant and some other similar items of intrigue.

I checked Texe Marrs has a web site: http://www.texemarrs.com

Peace,

-- Bill P (porterwn@one.net), May 20, 1999.

from

http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/12.12.96/implants-9650.html

Implanted ID tags have become all the rage for saving precious pets. Internal homing devices have the ablility to thwart kidnappers. Now that the future has arrived, would you prefer your chip in your wrist or forehead?

By Michael Mechanic

SURFERS AND KAYAKERS WHO FREQUENT the kelp-filled waters of the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary often have the pleasure of coming face to face with sea otters, the playful marine mammals that have so charmed tourists and locals. Unknown to most is that each of these wild animals has been implanted with a tiny microchip and neatly cataloged in a computer database.

The chip, a powerless device the size of a grain of rice, is injected under the animal's skin with a special syringe. Each chip is programmed with a distinctive ID number that can be read using a scanner. The number is linked to a database containing information about each animal.

By this time next year, your family pet will probably have such a chip. "The goal is to microchip all animals," says Lindy Harton, western regional manager for Infopet Identification Systems, one of three major suppliers in the animal microchip market.

Within the next decade, human implants are almost certain to become available, too.

Think it couldn't happen?

Think again. In October 1987, Daniel Man, an Israeli-born plastic surgeon practicing in Boca Raton, Fla., patented a homing device implant designed for humans under the name "Man's Implanted." Unlike the animal chip, the human device runs on long-lasting lith-ium batteries and periodically transmits a signal that would allow authorities to pinpoint a person's exact location using cellular phone towers or helicopters carrying triangulation equipment. The batteries, Man says, could be replenished twice a year--"like an electric toothbrush"--using a charger held against the skin.

Both Man and Zacky Meltzer, the engineer who has helped Man's device take shape, hail from Israel, where terrorism is a constant threat and security issues are paramount. Inspired by several prominent kidnap-murder cases, Man intended the implant for use as a safeguard against child abduction. "When I was a resident in plastic surgery, I was in many situations when this was needed and there wasn't anything like it," says Man. "The idea was to get something very small that would fit outside or inside the body without being detected."

When the bugs are worked out, Man's device could be used to thwart child kidnappers, protect foreign dignitaries, monitor prisoners and protect cars from theft. (Indeed, some models already carry anti-theft transmitters that operate on a similar principle.)

So far, Man's implant has not been marketed. To do so will require approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a costly and time-consuming process. But the estimated $500,000 needed to bring the product to market may be forthcoming. Man has been contacted by interested companies, plus government agencies--including the U.S. Navy--which say they want to use the device to track marine mammals. The FBI also has expressed an interest in the device, according to Man's assistant, Faye Shelkofsky.

Man and Beast

"And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake like a dragon. . . . And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads." Revelation 13:11, 13:16

THE UTILITY OF the device is undeniable, but the Orwellian and biblical ramifications have raised the hackles of civil libertarians, religious groups and militia members, among others, who see the potential for misuse. Some Christians quite literally view Man's invention, or some related technology, as "the mark" used by the Antichrist to identify his followers, according to the Bible book of Revelation.

One believer is Terry Cook, a former Los Angeles county sheriff's deputy and state fraud investigator who penned The Mark of the New World Order, a title found in Christian bookstores. "We're all going to be marked and identified by the year 2001, that's the plan," Cook says. "There are several bills pending to get us national ID cards now. [Microchip implants are] the technology that will be used in 'the mark.' "

Citizen's militia enthusiast Bo Gritz, in his Center for Action newsletter, directly cites Man's invention and lists its potential uses. "Such tags will allow 911 callers to be immediately located by police. Kidnapped children can be instantly recovered, as can older people and others who become disoriented and lost. Soldiers can be tracked to assure their arrival on target. The implant will replace and improve electronic collars for monitoring released criminals."

Gritz, however, comes out implicitly against the idea: "Things that are voluntary today have a way of becoming compulsory tomorrow."

"I don't think there is much difference between a national ID card and a chip under your skin. I won't take either," says Norm Resnick, host of a staunch pro-Israel radio program on the USA Patriot Network.

Man envisions his invention as strictly voluntary, a device that could be worn or carried by those who do not want it under the skin. The surgeon is taken aback by all this talk of Armageddon and by the conspiracy buffs who say his invention could ultimately be used by the government to monitor its citizens. "That is frightening," he says. "I'm looking at the positive aspects of this."

Officials at pet microchip companies say they have no plans to develop a human ID chip, although some admit they have interested customers. "Once people know about our product, they ask, 'What about my mother or father with Alzheimer's disease, who wanders away, or my children, in case of abduction?'" says Keith Myhre, vice president of business development for Infopet. "We tell them what I told you. We have no plans to do anything like that."

At a recent statewide law enforcement symposium on child abduction and sexual predators held at UC-Santa Cruz, the only talk of implanting children with microchips came in response to a reporter's inquiries. Special Agent Gordon McNeil of the FBI, who attended the conference, said he wasn't even aware the technology was available.

A representative on hand from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said microchip implants for children definitely were not on the center's agenda. The organization, she said, encourages parents to have their children's fingerprints taken, but adds that the prints are safeguarded by the parents and only viewed by the authorities if the child turns up missing.

Home Again

PUBLIC SKEPTICISM regarding human implants may run high, but the pet microchips are gaining widespread acceptance. Subcutaneous chips were first conceived for use in thoroughbred horses, and the market for other animals quickly followed. According to Infopet's Harting, less than 2 percent of the cats that end up in animal shelters nationwide are ever returned to their owners.

"In Marin County and San Mateo County, where they've been using the microchip for a number of years, they are now seeing about 20 percent of cats returned to owners--and they attribute that directly to the microchip," she says. "And it will get better, the more animals that have the microchip."

InfoPet, a division of Trace Net Technologies Inc., first began marketing German-made microchips and readers to the pet market in 1988. American Veterinary Identification Devices Inc., AVID for short, joined the animal ID market in 1991 with its own chips and readers. Pharmaceutical giant Schering-Plough distributes a similar product called Home Again, manufactured by Destron-Fearing Inc. of St. Paul, Minn.

In 1991, zoos worldwide began microchipping their animals and the Congress of International Trade Endangered Species, comprising more than 100 member countries, also has agreed to start implanting chips in endangered species.

But the biggest potential market is pets. "It's been phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal," says Mar-jory Walker, an AVID customer service representative. "We went from a small company with five to eight employees to having 60 to 70. We have to expand all the time to keep up with the growth."

Harting says there are roughly 110 million cats and dogs in the U.S.--about a quarter of them in California--and that number replenishes itself every five to seven years. "Throughout the country, probably at least a million pets are microchipped," she says. "It's a very small percentage, but growing."

The chip companies supply humane societies and animal shelters with free scanners, and encourage agencies to adopt the new technology. Resolving what had been a major compatibility problem, the companies recently joined forces to produce a scanner capable of reading chips sold by all three companies. This new scanner is currently being distributed to shelters.

If a stray is found to contain a chip, the shelter calls the company toll-free and reports the ID number. If the pet owner has kept updated information in the company's database, the company contacts the owner directly. In some cases, company employees may contact the vet or shelter that injected the chip in order to track down the pet owner's name and number. Ultimately, the pet owner is responsible for keeping the information current.

Advocates of the technology point out that pets that run away in fear following a natural disaster or noisy holidays like Independence Day are easily recovered. Shelters that use the chips report having found pets from other communities or animals that have been missing for six months or more.

"When we first started, we'd return 20 [pets] in a year with the microchip," says Diane Allevato, executive director of the Marin Humane Society, which has implanted a chip in every outgoing animal for the past eight years. "Now it's hundreds. We return microchipped cats every day."

Hearing the success stories, shelters and government agencies have begun to embrace the technology. The state of Hawaii, according to Walker, now requires all cats to be implanted. The city of Novato, in Marin County, passed an ordinance more than a year ago also requiring cats be microchipped as a condition for a mandatory pet license. The city-subsidized license costs only $7, chip included.

The Marin Humane Society has microchipped about 22,000 pets to date, Allevato estimates. "It's the most significant thing that has happened in the lost-and-found business in the past 100 years," she adds.

Following Marin County's lead, some 30 animal shelters across the nation now microchip all outgoing pets. Among them are the Humane Society of Santa Clara Valley, the Peninsula Humane Society, and humane societies in Monterey, Somona, San Luis Obispo and San Diego counties. The Los Angeles Humane Society, which sees about 30,000 animals per year--is also gearing up to microchip all adopted animals.

The Santa Cruz SPCA scans incoming animals, and offers implants at the request of pet owners. So far, says SPCA spokesperson Marilee Geyer, routine scans have picked up only a handful of microchipped pets here. But that is likely to change in the near future.

Even slaughterhouses and animal research facilities now scan animals for the chips, to assure they haven't been stolen and resold. "It certainly is the way of the future," Geyer says. "I don't know about having it mandated, but it's probably the best thing you can do to insure your animal is returned."

And technology watchers believe it's only a matter of time before we, too, will carry implants.

Card Sharks

"And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." Revelation 13:17

IN REDWOOD CITY last month, a company called Verifone Inc. announced the latest hot item in the commerce world--a lightweight, compact "smart-card" reader. The two-pound gadget soon will be carried by retail outlets and used to accept electronic cash from consumers. Wells Fargo Bank is planning to introduce the "smart" card itself in the Bay Area early next year. This "Personal ATM" or P-ATM card contains a microchip capable of storing many types of information, in this case a cache of digital money, from which purchases would be subtracted.

The reader and card--rechargeable at the bank--together offer a future in which people will no longer have to carry a wad of dirty bills or a pocketful of coins, a world where pickpockets will come away with little and convenience stores may no longer need to fear robberies.

Similar technology is catching on in the public sector. According to a recent Associated Press article, the state of Utah plans to introduce a driver's license sometime next year embedded with an 8 kilobit microchip.

Police officers, by running the card through a reader, will be able to get the same type of information they now take down by hand. The chip may also be used, in the future, to store bank account information, medical records, government documents, hunting and fishing licenses and similar things. Because the card readers are not yet widespread, the license also will contain a bar-code, which can be scanned.

As the new technology's critics see the future, the cards themselves will eventually become obsolete, replaced by a little micro-chip implant--perhaps a combination of Dr. Man's homing device and the P-ATM chip. Terry Cook cites articles in several mainstream daily newspapers that have raised this possibility. "It's interesting," he says, "that when Christians say this is happening, we're all labeled as right-wing, extremist, anti-government freaks and yet the left-wing secular press is reporting the same things."

Future Shock

THE PRESIDENT and his cabinet are dead--slain by a revolutionary force. Martial law is declared. People are told to remain calm and go about their business as usual. But things are not at all normal. Men clad in unfamiliar military uniforms are conducting house-by-house searches. The intellectuals are being taken from the university. Women are dismissed from their jobs, by order of the military. Soon after, all Compucounts (digital bank accounts) owned by women are cut off. Thus begins the restructuring of democratic society into a system in which women are entirely powerless, subjugated by the male "commanders."

Like George Orwell's 1984, this vision of the future, dreamed up by Canadian writer Margaret Atwood for her 1985 novel, The Handmaid's Tale, was both a stinging criticism of government intervention in private lives and a warning to readers to be wary, lest such an incredible scenario actually occur.

The future world Orwell created for his readers during the 1940s was one in which people were brainwashed by the government into a state of perfect, blind obedience to a state-created entity known as Big Brother--now a household metaphor for attempts by government to monitor or restrict the citizenry.

The fated year came and went, of course, without fulfillment of the author's fantasies. People still had the freedom to criticize the government--perhaps even an increased freedom to do so. But the Orwellian view still has a powerful impact on mindsets in the Home of the Free, and on subsequent creators.

In the early 1970s, Star Wars producer George Lucas wrote and directed his own take on the Orwellian vision. In Lucas' film, THX1138, Robert Duvall plays a character trapped in a brightly lit, impersonal, underground world of the future where identically clad and shorn people are numbered rather than named, where cops are androids and personal freedom is nonexistent.

In the season premiere of the popular TV series The X-Files, FBI Special Agent Scully discovers that human beings have been cataloged through childhood inoculations, each child marked with a distinctive protein as part of an alien colonization process.

What makes some of these dark predictions all the more intriguing is that the technologies they depend upon are coming into use. Microchip implants. Digital cash. Human tracking devices. A map of the human genetic blueprint available on databases worldwide (fueling fears of eugenics and gene-based discrimination by health insurance conglomerates).

All of these technologies have tremendous potential benefits to humankind, but given the public's general distrust of the government and the propensity of both religion and pop culture to embrace conspiracy theory, it is no surprise that some view the new advances cynically. Even the benign pet microchips have been the target of some who fear they will pave the future for public acceptance of human implants. "We have gotten a number of phone calls from people who want to prove this is the mark of the devil, and from a publicity standpoint we don't need that," notes one pet ID company official.

"Some people have some explosive ideas about it," agrees Info-pet's Harting, adding that she personally believes people should be able to get microchip implants if that is what they want. "The Big Brother angle always comes up. But [the pet microchip] was never intended for use in people."

-- a (a@a.a), May 21, 1999.

What? Like we aren't there now?

Walk into your local police station. Give them your name and your birthday. They may ask you one or two more questions. Welcome to the wonderful modern digital world.

We don't need no stinkin' chips!

<:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), May 21, 1999.

This board's mission is to "imagine the future" right ?

If you want to imagine the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever.

-Orwell

-- Blue Himalayan (bh@k2.y), May 21, 1999.

.

-- Blue Himalayan (bh@k2.y), May 21, 1999.

Hey, Blue, you're CRAZY if you think that I'd submit to an implant! And yes my arguement is religious!!!! COME ON, WAKE UP, THIS IS A DIRECT FUFILLMENT OF BIBLICAL PREDICTIONS!! WE will be slaves, if we were to accept!! I'll NEVER SUBMIT TO THIS, NEVER!!! I'll die fighting it if nessisary, but I will not give in! You are a fool if you want this, can't you even see THAT?!?!?!?!?

-- Crono (Crono@timesend.com), May 21, 1999.

Wher'es humptydumpty when you need him at No.6 in the Village - Caterham7 Driver...

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), May 21, 1999.

"....be seeing you......"

-- zoobie (zoobiezoob@yahoo.com), May 21, 1999.

The Pink Floyd 120V ac solution is good, or try an MRI scan at 1.5 Tesla field strength. Ever see a 70 pound oxygen tank go airborne? Flint has a good point: retinal scanners already are being implemented by one regional bank. Problem with that is a number of medical conditions, including diabetes, can alter the retinal vessels. There's no magic bullet for the security sadists.

-- Spidey (in@jam.commie), May 21, 1999.

Texas bank offers 1st eye-recognition ATM in U.S.

www.nandotimes.com/noframes/story/0,2107,48513-78143-556814-0,00.html

No thank you, Bank U!

-- Sharon (sking@drought-ridden.com), May 21, 1999.