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Dec. 14, 2004 First, dogs tear off their collars. Dog-catchers take strays to the pound. It is the 1990's. We do away with collars. A microchip is injected between the dog's shoulder blades. This technology has been used for years to track the migration and life-span of endangered wildlife. A wave of the wand and the dog is easily identified and returned home, safe and sound. Then, on December 19, 2001, a Florida-based technology firm Applied Digital Solutions (ADS) announces VeriChip. This tiny, rice-grain sized implantable microchip catches the attention of a young computer-whiz, Derek Jacobs. His father has been the victim of some serious bad luck -- cancer, a nasty car wreck, debilitating spinal injuries. Derek, a 13-year-old certified Microsoft systems engineer, sees the future in the sub-dermal radio frequency identification device or RIFD. He decides his whole family should get chipped. His father would always have his medical records. Derek would get to be a cyborg. He convinces his family to volunteer for implantation and they are accepted. The FDA approves testing. In May, 2002, the Jacobs are chipped on national television and after enjoy a catered brunch, invitation only, with key investors. Keith Bolton, head of the VeriChip division of ADS, refers to them "The Chipsons" and then copy writes the name. Concurrent, on June 26, 1993, thirty years of diligence pays off as the U.S. military finally achieves, with the launching of the 24th NavStar satellite, an instantaneous global positioning system. This technology soon becomes available to the civilian market. GPS receivers are built into luxury vehicles and quickly trickle down to the lower-end. Telematic services, such as GM's OnStar, become an acceptable extra, like seat-warmers and electric locks and can be found in 25% of all new cars. Conrad Chase, owner of the Baja Beach Club in Barcelona, Spain, offers to chip his customers for 125 Euros a pop. A moderately painless procedure, much like a vaccination, the tiny, cylindrical tube of glass is injected through a syringe. The device itself is very simple. It contains a silicon computer chip laser-etched with a unique alphanumeric identification code, an electromagnetic coil for transmitting data, and an antenna. It is very chic. No need to bother with I.D. or cash or credit cards. It offers, with just the wave of a wand, hassle-free access to the restricted VIP lounge. Chase gives his regular clientele an opportunity to take a brave, fashion-forward step in evolution… techno VIPs…the merging of man and machine…party cyborgs of Europe. "Unlike conventional forms of identification, VeriChip cannot be lost, stolen, misplaced or counterfeited," claims VeriChip's website. "The VeriChip can be scanned when necessary with a proprietary VeriChip scanner. A small amount of Radio Frequency Energy passes from the scanner energizing the dormant VeriChip, which then emits a radio frequency signal transmitting the individuals’ unique verification (VeriChipID) number." ADS begins to lobby the FDA on the behalf of the medical community. The current condition under which patient information is gathered in emergency situations, they argue, is archaic and irresponsible. Emergency room doctors and nurses have to rely upon the patient or the patient's family for crucial information. Patients die for want of this information. But patients might not be able to communicate and family members are not always reliable. A code extracted from a chip sent over the internet, medical records retrieved from a secure database, lives will be saved. On October 14th, 2004 the FDA approves VeriChip implants for medical uses. Applied Science pledges to donate 200 scanners, regularly priced $600 per unit, to trauma centers. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announces $139 million “in grants to help make real President Bush’s push for electronic health records for most Americans within a decade” an ADS press release announces. This is how progress works. In Mexico we see the most overwhelming and immediate implementation of this new technology. One-thousand Mexicans offer up their arms to chipping. They carry a dormant 16-digit code which is brought to life by proprietary scanners located in a scattering of metropolitan hospitals. The chips and the scanners are both supplied by ADS’s Mexican subsidiary, Solusat. High-level Mexican government officials also see the benefit in sub-dermal implants. Mid-July, 2004, Mexican attorney general Rafael Macedo de la Concha, frustrated with endemic governmental corruption, announces that he along with 160 top members of his staff has been chipped. Thus, he claims, securing sensitive information contained in a new federal anti- crime center. Around the same time half-a-million people march on Mexico City chanting “There is no government,” and carrying signs begging for the re-instatement of the death penalty. They are desperate, seized in an unequivocal fear. The September 17, 2002 issue of the Christian Science Monitor reported that "a kidnapping occurs every six hours on average,” in Mexico. That’s roughly 1400 abductions a year. Other sources have placed the number closer to 3,000 to 4,000-a-year. It is second only to Colombia. Worse still, there is literally nowhere for the Mexican citizen to turn. An April 14 BBC report stated that, "legal representatives of victims claim at least 70% of kidnaps involve police or ex- police participation." Many kidnapping victims say they were stopped by police, only to be handed over to kidnappers and held for ransom. They are tortured, raped, brutalized, and mutilated. Victims say their kidnappers know everything about them -- their family, their job, their bank accounts, and the easiest ways to raise the ransom monies. High level officials in both local and national government have been implicated in multiple kidnapping schemes. Exhausted by the terror of epidemical kidnappings and an ineffectual and corrupt police force, and desperate for relief, families, friends of victims and victims themselves of kidnapping filled the streets of Mexico’s capital for “The March of Silence Against the Lack of Security and Kidnapping,” to plead with the government to act. The Attorney General acknowledges he operates within an extremely corrupt crime-fighting environment. Vincente Fox, Mexico’s president swears to do whatever it takes to protect the citizens of Mexico. There is consideration of expanding the chipping program into the upper reaches of the military and the police force as well, boasts Antonio Aceves general director of Solusat. Solusat, in association with Mexico’s National Foundation for the Investigation of Lost and Kidnapped Children, launches the new VeriKid™ program “to provide an emergency identification component to the overall child safeguard effort in Mexico,” states an ADS 2003 press release. Desperate to protect their children, Mexican mothers and fathers gladly chip their kids. It only costs a couple hundred dollars, after all – a small price to pay for security. If their children are kidnapped they can be found, hopefully, before they are brutalized or tortured. Other countries, including Russia, Colombia, Switzerland, Venezuela, and Italy are considering the utility of this technology. ''We need some system for permanently identifying safe people,'' says Andy Rooney in a 60 Minutes commentary. “Most of us are never going to blow anything up, and there's got to be something better than one of [those] photo IDs -- a tattoo somewhere, maybe.” “I wouldn't mind having something planted permanently in my arm that would identify me,'' he says. This is just the beginning. Digital Angel, another subsidiary of ADS, announces they are working on getting to market implantable chips linked to a global positioning system. The military sees the advantage of chipping its troops. They do away with dog-tags. Troops are instantly located. They can be retrieved if they are captured. The police and fire-fighters see the benefit in chipping. Employed in high-risk professions, instant access to their medical and personnel records, in the case they are injured, could mean life-or-death. No fireman will ever be lost in a burning building again. No cop will be left to die on an empty highway. United States, gripped in a panic, the looming terrorist attack, demands everyone be identified in a way that cannot, supposedly, be tampered-with or duplicated. Weary of the tedious security at airports, citizens in good standing, like Mr. Rooney, will volunteer to be chipped. Politicians, government-workers, corporate-types, anyone afraid of being kidnapped, anyone afraid of terrorists, anyone that sees the benefit of never carrying cash or credit cards, EZ-Pass or ID, will offer up their arms to microchips. They will want to be found. They will want the convenience. They will want to feel safe. They will want to know where they are. They will want to know someone is watching over them. ------------ Email Chet Hardin: chethardin@earthlink.net Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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