RFID Chips Are Here

What is an RFID chip? RFID stands for radio frequency identification. It is a miniature circuit with a small antenna that when activated by an electronic scanning device, it gives off an identification number. RFID chips have actually been around for some time in a larger form that has been used in stores to tag expensive items to help prevent theft. However the first of these were not really programmed with a number as much as they were designed just to trigger an alarm system. Today they can make RFID chips with a large enough numerical base to identify every product manufactured, every human being, every animal, and just about anything else you can think of identifying.

When RFID chips first came out they were expensive. Now the prices have dropped dramatically, and they cost about $.50 each. It is projected that the cost will eventually drop to five cents at which point it will be cost effective to put an RFID chip in every product that costs a dollar or more. RFID scanning for products in a store would be faster and more efficient than using the barcode scanners we use today. A belt could literally run from where you unload groceries from your cart to where a bagger would bag your groceries, and everything that travels down the belt would automatically be scanned and prices totaled up. That is the brighter side of the technology.

On the darker side of this technology is the Verichip that is designed for implantation in humans. In 2005 the FDA approved the implantation of the VeriChip as a medical device. The intent behind it is for Alzheimer patients as well as possibly for medical awareness bracelet or dog tag replacements. Of course the problem here is that servers can be down and information may not be accessible in enough time to save a person's life, in which case dog tags would be better. The introduction of using a chip or something of the sort to implants into people is of course going to be introduced under the guise of innocence.