Posted by iedbunnie on
URL: https://www.es-forum.com/chip-introduction-in-ohio-this-was-news-a-couple-of-days-ago-on-WPIX-pittsburgh-pa-tp1540739.html

Security Company Puts Chips In Workers' Arms

POSTED: 2:39 pm EST February 13, 2006

CINCINNATI -- A company that sells surveillance
equipment has begun implanting tiny identifying
devices in employees to allow them access to its
secure vaults.

The program is voluntary and is believed to be the
first of its kind in the United States,
CityWatcher.com Chief Executive Sean Darks said
Monday.

Darks said three of the 3-year-old company's seven
employees, including himself, have been implanted with
radio frequency identification chips -- known as RFIDs
-- about the size of a grain of rice.

"I have one," Darks said of the implants, first
reported by the Financial Times. "I'm not going to ask
somebody to do something I wouldn't do myself. None of
my employees are forced to get the chip to keep their
job."

CityWatcher.com has contracts with six cities to
provide cameras and Internet monitoring of high-crime
areas, Darks said. The company instituted the RFID
program to restrict access to vaults where data and
images are kept for police departments, he said.

"We've had it for a few months. We're testing it to
see the effectiveness," Darks said.

The technology predates World War II, but has appeared
in numerous modern adaptations, such as tracking pets
and vehicles. The Mexico attorney general's office
implanted RFIDs in some employees in 2004 to restrict
access to secure areas.

The implants don't enable CityWatcher.com to track
employees' movements, Darks said.

"It's a passive chip. It emits no signal whatsoever,"
Darks said. "It's the same thing as a keycard."

According to The Financial Times, VeriChip, the
American company that made the devices, said the
implants were designed primarily for medical purposes.
The company also claims to have the only chips that
have been approved by the Food and Drug
Administration, the paper reported.
Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.





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