digg

Facebook Connect Join Digg About

California Outlaws The Forced Subdermal RFID Tagging Of Humans

arstechnica.com — The California legislature has just made sure that employers cannot require their employees to have subcutaneous RFID implements (and you thought your workplace was strict). Supracutaneous RFID trackers, though, are still fair game.

Who dugg this? Made popular Sep 5, 2007

Digg DudeWhat is Digg?

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. Digg surfaces the best stuff as submitted and voted on by the community. Take the Tour to learn more.

103 Comments

show profanity settings
expand all
  • swrostmore, on 10/10/2007, -0/+50The Governator knows that Skynet will be able to control humans through their RFID chips - he's just taking preventative measures
  • tonycjohn, on 10/10/2007, -2/+24I give credit to the CA law makers. I think this will start with pets and soon there will discussions on the benefit of using it on prisoners, etc.
  • r55741, on 10/10/2007, -2/+17"I tell them don't be RFID girliemen"

  • RetroRufio, on 10/10/2007, -2/+13And just WHAT is wrong with loving Star Trek?!
  • solvent13, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9Sub = below
    Supra = over, on top of
    Cutaneous = relating to the skin
  • sjbdallas, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8Evil time travel? They should have outlawed all time travel just to play it safe. Along with teleportation, DNA recombination that results in alien-human hybrids, self-aware computers, gremlins, and any demonstrations of advanced technology where generic military generals are present and and supposedly safe from harm.
  • crazyben, on 10/10/2007, -2/+10In other news, California outlaws kitten murder, evil time travel, and necrophilia.
    Great job!
  • therightside, on 10/10/2007, -7/+15Only Star Trek loving dorks like you think this is going to happen.
  • Vektuz, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7We've already been using it on pets for a couple years actually - its not really new tech.
  • theshizzler, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8Where's the ban on mind-control helmets and Sentinels?
  • BohicaTwentyTwo, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8LOL. "Scotty, lock on to my MasterCard keyfob and beam me out of here!"
  • thecoolestguy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5The California State Senate is continueing the tradition of treating citizens like children who need to be protected from their own stupidity, by passing legislation barring employers from demanding employees be implanted with RFID tags as a condition for employment. Another political body that does not understand the concept of liberty and mutually consentual contract.

    You may think that this is a move towards liberty, but whenever the government supposes to know what's best for people by limiting their freedom, it's actually a degradation of humanity and a move towards totalitarianism. Government has no right to tell anyone they can't enter a contract where being implanted with an RFID tag is a condition for employment, or, as another example, tell people that they can't can't provide a sexual service in exchange for money.

    Just because we disagree with something doesn't mean we collectively have a right to force someone to not do it.
  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6this is a victory for good in the world...
  • Myonosken, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5But how will they know I'm an interstellar delivery boy?
  • madduck623, on 10/10/2007, -2/+6Personally i think protecting my rights to not be tracked like cattle pretty important.
  • Vektuz, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4They can still use badges and tags and ties, and even bracelets, anklets, stuff you can't take off, and so on, for all places where they'd normally require subcutaneous injection.
  • fantasticFlan, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefix_(linguistics) + http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cutaneous
  • jeremycobert, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4a win for big brother and another loss of freedom. if some company requires you to get tagged you can always quit or not take the job. stop cheering for the government to take things away from you. you had a choice, now you don't.....
  • OrangeTide, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3HELP ME! I can't figure out things for myself. Please save me from big bad corporations. I need help from my mommy and daddy at the California legislature to protect me from those awful bad people.
    (who can protect me from the state legislature?)
  • sjbdallas, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3It's not a tuma! It's an RFID chip that erases my memories!
  • SlowOnTheUptake, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3'Supra-' means above. So presumably, by 'supracutaneous', they mean on the surface of the skin.
  • fantasticFlan, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4It is pretty ridiculous, but I won't be laughing if this becomes a messy issue in a few years and California's the only state to have it all worked out.
  • ptheroux, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5The headline is wrong. The bill does not outlaw "forced" implantation. It outlaws implantation as a condition of having a particular job. "Forced" is when someone holds you down and implants it. If having the tag is a condition of a job, you are free to not take the job in the first place.
  • darkgrrrl, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2From the bill: “Require, coerce, or compel” includes physical violence, threat, intimidation, retaliation, the conditioning of any private or public benefit or care on consent to implantation, including employment, promotion, or other employment benefit, or by any means that causes a reasonable person of ordinary susceptibilities to acquiesce to implantation when he or she otherwise would not.

    I think this law is absolutely the right thing to do. However, companies have already adopted GPS to track employees via phones/vehicles; they will find many ways to use RFID other than actually chipping us.
  • cquinnd, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2If they outlawed all those, they would have to stop making half of next summers blockbuster movies.
  • madduck623, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3what if down the line every employer requires this tag? not so free to not take the job when you have bills to pay and mouths to feed then.
  • StoneLox, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2subcutaneous = under the skin
    supracutaneous = above the skin - could be a bracelet
  • Pureeviljester, on 10/10/2007, -3/+5supra means not in the skin?

    someone explain those 2 words please.
  • Gavagai80, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3For all the supposed harm of illegal immigration, California has the most prosperous economy in the country and is a world economic leader. Obviously it isn't hurting much, so as a Californian it's quite low on the list of things I care about. RFID tags, on the other hand, could affect me. I'm glad lawmakers have their priorities straight for once.
  • mourne, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Then again.. now that I think about the tracking implications, I don't think most people would want such a thing.
  • MindTrigger, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3You must be missing all of the advanced energy/resource conservation work California does. We are the most progressive state in the nation on many fronts.
  • moskaudancer, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Here's hoping necrophilia and animal abuse are already illegal.
  • Myonosken, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3No that's still classed as forced.
  • thecoolestguy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Murder and rape are coercion and are not mutually consentual acts (since people who are raped or murdered don't consent to it happening by definition). Agreeing to have an RFID tag implanted in exchange for employment is consentual.
  • Ebacherville, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4Here is the diffrence, if the feds insist you take a chip you will go to jail if you dont, if a company says you must take a chip you can walk away.. you dont HAVE to work there, its your choice and you wont be jailed for makingthat choice.. the feds say somthing and you dont do it and your locked up..

    This is simple, a comapny can require chips or drug tests.. if they do they will loose good workers that wont put up with it and end up with lazy sheeple as workers.. As a company would you want inteligent driven principled people or sheeple pushovers that do exactly as said and nothing more.

    Now if the feds start chipping people thats when hell needs to be raised because you can walk away from the feds like you can from a employer.
  • OrangeTide, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Proactive creation of new laws to protect people from a non-existent problem is never good news. You've been hoodwinked by representatives that can't even ship a state budget on time (or on budget, a huge part of it had to be vetoed!)
  • jjmckay, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Thank you! Yes. A government prohibiting this is perhaps just as totalitarian is one that mandates it. Or rather, the means don't justify the ends.
  • TeamRocket, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3go California, its your birthday, go California, you can do it!
  • Otto, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2a) WTF is a "tracking transponder"?
    b) Whatever it is, an RFID implant doesn't have it. It's a passive technology: No batteries.
  • tybris, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Good news. We need more of that.
  • adgreene, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2You are exactly right.
  • MindTrigger, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1How the hell does one manage to do this? I've been posting here since Oct 2005, and I think I did a double post once.
  • nybble41, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1GPS receivers don't broadcast your position any more than RFID tags do. Unless coupled with a suitable transmission device (like a cell phone), GPS is a passive technology. (And if you're broadcasting a signal you can be trivially tracked without any help from real GPS equipment. Cell phone "GPS" is mostly just the towers keeping track amongst themselves of which one you're closest to so that they can hand off the call when you move out of range.)
  • Kallius, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I can imagine plenty of governments of the world that will have *no* qualms about forcibly chipping their citizens, once the technology becomes widespread and extremely inexpensive.
  • OrangeTide, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Well you have to work there if you're on welfare because you aren't allowed to turn down jobs because you find them disagreeable with your personal ideology. Only if it's a religious conviction can you turn down a job. (like making you work on the Sabbath, or having you sell Alcohol). Although if you're a Catholic I don't think you can get a tattoo, and I think an RFID tag is the same as desecrating your body.
  • Seidoger, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3That is really scary (What they just outlawed).
  • ptheroux, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3What if every potential worker, as a condition of working at a particular job, required that their boss have an implanted RFID chip? Bosses would have no choice but to implant such a chip if they wanted to have any workers and make a living.
  • OrangeTide, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1The State is Father, the State is Mother.
  • Otto, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2@therightside: No, because it's already happening. There are nightclubs in Florida (been to a few of them in Miami) and Barcelona that have RFID implant systems. You get a little chip in your hand and can buy drinks and get entry to clubs and all sorts of other things without having to carry cash or credit or anything.

    http://www.verichipcorp.com/ makes the chips. The chips are even FDA approved.

    This isn't sci-fi nonsense. It's been going on for the last 3-4 years, at least.
  • Novagenesis, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Shhh..you're ruining all the hysterics....

    It can hold personal information that is otherwise unobtainable about you, but it's not a tracking threat.
  • Fetching more discussions...
    Show 51 - 100 of 101 discussions

  • Add a Comment

    Login or register to comment!
    Or, sign-in super fast with your Facebook account ...

© Digg Inc. 2009 — Content created and posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain | Terms of Use Updated | Privacy Policy
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.