RFID Use In Humans Dionne Johnson and Jenna Seagraves COMP38012/06/06

RFID -“Radio Frequency Identification” -The idea for implanting a chip in humans came from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to help identify firefighters if they were to become disfigured or trapped

RFID (cont’d) - implanted in fatty tissue of the arm - near rear of triceps - chip last at least 10 years - safe in MRI scans - no risk of allergic reactions - encased in non-reactive medical-grade glass coating - Cost: $125, not including implantation - Passive vs. Active chips

VeriChip -First FDA-approved human implantable RFID device (2002) -about the size of a grain of rice - Read range is about 6 to 18 inches -responds with a unique 16 digit number -approximately 2000 implanted in humans worldwide

SECURITY ISSUES

PROS: - ensures only authorized personnel enter into secure buildings - harder to replicate compared to social security cards - no current GPS capabilities - can not track in real time - chip contains no information, only a number - only authorized personnel access database where information is stored - consumers choose what information to include in the database

CONS: -”spychips” -government is able to monitor someone's movement against their will -track and monitor both citizens and visitors -government could access information they can’t legally obtain as of now -insecure-unencrypted -identity theft -lead to safety issues -more criminal activity -more kidnappings, attacks, or murders to obtain chip

MEDICAL ISSUES

PROS: - access to medical information if patient can not respond - ensures doctors receive accurate and updated information - Could track patients in hospital and send alerts if they collapsed - When used with an active chip and an antenna

CONS: -potential health risks -security issues -reliability issues -threat to medical confidentiality

Uses - Currently used in: - Federal buildings in Mexico - Clubs in Barcelona, Spain - Prisons in the United States - Hospitals in the U.S.

Scenarios - A child is found roaming the streets and cannot give information on how to find home… - Someone is badly injured and has no identification on them, how can you get in touch with family or retrieve their health information? - A power outage causes the medical database to crash and all your information is in the system, what do you do? - Someone is able to steal your RFID chip number, how can they be stopped from accessing your information?

More Things to Think About… - Should there be a separate RFID chip for medical and security use? - Should the chip’s number match the National Identification Card number?