Tommy Thompson Inadvertantly Sparks Another Round of RFID Debates

Filed in archive Healthcare , Privacy and Security on August 8, 2005

Former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson comes out and promotes Americans getting chips implanted under their skin in order to alert healthcare workers about medical conditions, and what happens? It sets off a backlash (OK, a mini-backlash ... alright, a teenie-weenie- discussion-not-quite-turned-into- a-backlash) against RFID chips in humans.

Something about implanting chips in human beings just starts people up and lends itself to all sorts of doomsday scenarios. No matter how much sense the idea makes from a public health standpoint.

Here's a smattering of the reaction from around the Web that I thought you might find interesting:

First you have the well-reasoned public policy case for implanting chips for medical purposes. This Fox News report quotes the CEO of Applied Digital as suggesting that people are open to the idea if the medical benefits are described:

"Who would want such a thing? That depends on how you ask, says Scott Silverman, CEO of Applied Digital, which makes the FDA-approved RFID called VeriChip.

'When we first announced VeriChip, a network poll asked people if they would put one in their bodies,' Silverman tells WebMD. 'Only 9 percent said yes. After FDA approval, 19 percent said yes. When former HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson joined our board, the rate went up to 33 percent. But our own study shows that if you ask people whether they would have a VeriChip implant to identify their medical records in case of an emergency, the positive response goes to 80 percent.'"

No matter how logical the above sounds, some people just react to the big brother aspect, without understanding the physics of RFID or its practical limitations:

"The minute you place one of those things under your skin, say GOODBYE to your freedoms! With this chip, you will be easily tracked. * * * Think, no more privacy! Satellites will be able to pinpoint your exact location if need be. Very freaky!"

Then there's this speculation:

"Seems last week when your husband was having trouble with the lawn mower and was working on it he bought some starting ether. Tommy your youngest son has the sniffles and you bought some decongestant, and your husband ask you to pick up Drano for the bathroom sink. All these items were automatically flagged and record of the purchase was stored on your driver's license. It has now been given to the police and they are preparing to raid your house, without a warrant. Sound unreal, wrong! You just purchased ingredients for a meth-lab."

SlashDot picks up the Thompson article and elicits this response, among others, which asks rhetorically "Tommy Thompson's promotion of implanting chips is news?" overlaid with a slathering of economic realism:

"Bottom line: Sure, absolutely: be vigilant. But there will never be compulsory 'implants' that will be required for all. Does that mean a company that would benefit massively from such an idea wouldn't try to promote it? In fact, I'd be worried if a for-profit company operating in a quasi-capitalist society didn't attempt to promote its products."

Finally, there are those who see humor in it all. Professor John Hawks on his anthropology Weblog ties the Tommy Thompson story together with another story about NTT's development of a device to control human movement, and says:

"Some people are worried that people will be pressured to get [RFID chips] in these days of terrorism for greater security. Myself, I'm worried that some Japanese scientist will figure out a way to make me jerk around like a deranged puppet."

Tags: RFID; Business