Fear Over Forced RFID Tagging

At first blush, a law the California Senate passed seems a bit paranoid. Last week the California Senate passed by a 28-9 vote a bill to ban the implantation of a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag in anyone who objects to the practice, according to an article posted by InformationWeek. The bill's sponsor, Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, calls the forced implantation of RFID tags into humans as "the ultimate invasion of privacy." Wisconsin and, oddly, North Dakota (which isn't known for leading the nation in technology-related legislation) also have passed similar laws.

It's difficult to imagine any individual, company or government agency forcing someone to be tagged. But then again, in 2004 the Food and Drug Administration approved the VeriChip RFID tag, which could be used for human implantation so that clinicians could obtain an individual's medical history if that person is unconscious. Mexico's attorney general and 18 staff members have the implanted chips, and a total of about 2,000 individuals have, presumably, agreed to be implanted, according to the article. The military is considering using the chip, and the military is known for insisting on certain requirements that infringe on the privacy of troops.

But forcing employees to have the chip implanted? That seems unlikely, until you consider CityWatcher.com, a Cincinnati video surveillance company. (Note: I could not access any Web site with that address.) However, the company is cited in several articles (vnunet.com, dailytech.com, WorldNetDaily, and the Associated Press) as having injected RFID chips into two employees who work in the company's secure data center. (WorldNetDaily also reported in 2005 that Tommy Thompson, former secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, pledged to have a subcutaneous RFID chip injected into his arm to prove it was safe. Thompson served on the board of directors of Applied Digital Solutions, maker of the VeriChip.)

Even though the Citywatcher employees agreed to the implantation (and Thompson did end up having a chip implanted), it seems less far fetched that workers could be coerced into having a chip implanted as a requirement for employment.