A few days ago, I mentioned Rep. Crooks’ Masson’s Blog – A Citizen’s Guide to Indiana » HB 1070 – Prohibition on forced ID implants. It prohibits governments or others from requiring implantation of a subcutaneous identification device. Subcutaneous would mean “under the skin.” A Slashdot post referencing a Register story notes the development of an RFID tattoo.
The Register reports that a St Louis based company, Somark Innovations, has successfully tested RFID tattoos to be used for tracking cattle and other animals. Details are limited for the actual tattoo, but it’s said to contain no metals and can be read up to about four feet away. Engadget has some more details on the matter. And yes, the article does mention RFID tattoos are possible for people, specifically the military. From the article: ‘The system developed by Somark uses an array of needles to quickly inject a pattern of dots into each animal, with the pattern changing for each injection. This pattern can then be read from over a meter away using a proprietary reader operating at high frequency.
I don’t know if tattoos would fall in to the category of “subcutaneous,” but it’s a close enough call that, if HB 1070 progresses, it should probably be amended to specify RFID tattoos. (RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification.)
[tags]HB1070-2007, technology, Big Brother[/tags]
I would rather like to think that a bill like this should be unnecessary. Sadly, our political climate is such today that I find it a necessary pre-emptive strike against the Big Brother. I think this kind of device is coming soon- and would have significant bi-partisan support in the Congress.
Thanks to David Crooks
I’m just as interested in the “or others” part of this.
It is obvious to me that governments shouldn’t be able to compel the implantation or tattooing of tracking devices on people.
I expect right-libertarians to question the notion that the government should be able to tell employers they can’t compel their employees to accept such a practice as a condition of their employment.
Does anyone know of any published photo/specific information on what this pattern actually looks like?