This scares me...
There's a product out there called VeriChip that boasts implantability into the human body combined with long-range RFID communication. It could be used (innocently) to ensure your kid is safe and hasn't wandered off, to identify dead bodies in the wake of a disaster, or (not-so-innocently) to track the physical location of anybody, anywhere... big brother style.
Christians would point to this as an end-of-days scenario, but since I'm not of that faith, I'll simply say it's sort of scary. I'm generally in favor of increased use of biometrics where magnetic strips used to be common (granting access to physical devices or locations), and for storing medical information as an example... but the sheer popularity and success of these guys (check their stock rating) is insane. I know the general public won't support this for awhile yet, but if international relations continue to degrade and we end up living in a more dangerous world than we thought (and thus become more vulnerable than we thought), I can see this technology emerging as a front-runner in terms of national security and medical/personal identification.
Oh, and have I said lately that this scares me? (:
Christians would point to this as an end-of-days scenario, but since I'm not of that faith, I'll simply say it's sort of scary. I'm generally in favor of increased use of biometrics where magnetic strips used to be common (granting access to physical devices or locations), and for storing medical information as an example... but the sheer popularity and success of these guys (check their stock rating) is insane. I know the general public won't support this for awhile yet, but if international relations continue to degrade and we end up living in a more dangerous world than we thought (and thus become more vulnerable than we thought), I can see this technology emerging as a front-runner in terms of national security and medical/personal identification.
Oh, and have I said lately that this scares me? (: