The other night I went out drinking with a few freinds and sure enough half way through the night one of my friends lost his wallet. This really got me thinking how nice it would be to not have to cary these things on me. Not have to worry about what one's drunk self will do with that all important wallet. The RFID Chip we talked about in class could be one of the answers to this problem. This Chip can trnasmit through radio waves a persons Identifcation and could even be used as a credit card. The potential for this kind of product could make major changes in everyday life. There are so many way that this could be intergated into your future everyday life for good or for bad.
They use many of these RFID chips to day in maby diffrent ways. They are use in tracking live stock and to keep them seperated between owners. They can be used in retail in order to keep track and count of inventory. In January of 2005 Wal-Mart required it's top 100 suppliers to use the RFID labels on all shpiments. Some hospitals have started using them in patiences wrist bands in order to keep more accuratly keep track of patiences. This could also be used to keep patiences records. Libraies have used these RFID labels to Keep track of all there books and it makes them easier to locate when needed. These are just a few of the ways that RFID chips are being used in everyday life.
If you think that this kind of technology couldn't be used for the identification of humans then you would be wrong. In 1998 a British professor inplanted on in his arm as an early experement for everyday use. Then in 2004 Conrad Chase offer the use of RFID chips in his Barcelona night club. That same year the Mexican Attorney General's office had 18 member inplanted with these chips in order to control access to secure data rooms. Above is a picture of a chip that has just been inplanted into someone's hand. I don't think that i would ever accually get this done. Something about people being able to keep track of me when and where ever I go just doesn't seem right.
This would be a really great investment for people. Imagine if you went out one night and you woke up and had amnesia. Or in many cases there are Jane Does in cities that can't be identified. People invest in these for their dogs, why don't we protect ourselves too?
ReplyDeleteI think it would be great to be able to find misplaced items through the use of an RFID chip. I am always forgetting where I put things (but usually I'm not drunk when this happens), and I always wish I could "call" the item that I lost, just like you can call a cell phone when you can't find it. However, I don't know if I am okay with the idea of someone being able to track me if I had one of these chips implanted in my body. It would be great to find missing people, but I also think it would cross the line for personal privacy. It would affect people's own free-will because they would not feel like they could go anywhere or do anything for the fear that someone may track where they are. It might stop people from skipping work an lying about where they are, but it doesn't allow us to use our own conscience and will therefore diminish the ability to distinguish between right and wrong.
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