FORGET THE POLICE, HERE IS THE REAL THREAT TO OUR PRIVACY

May I scan the bar code in your arm? (Helen Branswell Globe and Mail, October 14th, 2004)

A Florida company, Applied Digital Solutions, announced yesterday it had received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market in that country an implantable device known as a VeriChip.

The grain-of-rice-sized chip contains a unique numeric identifier that hospitals and doctors offices could scan to gain Internet access to an individual's medical records. In the initial rollout, the company will target people with chronic health problems -- and complicated medical records and needs -- as well as patients with cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.

The technology has already gained acceptance in Canada and the United States among pet owners and livestock producers who use it to trace animals. But are people really ready to have bar codes implanted under their skin? [...]

Medical ethicist Margaret Somerville said she doesn't object to the devices on principle, but could see how they could be abused. [...]

"Let's assume your [spouse] wants to know if you've been having sex with somebody" and have picked up a sexually transmitted disease, she said. "Could you have a private investigator scan the person without them knowing it and send that off and find out? They're going to have to have safeguards to prevent things like that."

Darn right! And while we are on the subject, how about a law that prohibits them from rifling through our pockets?