Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get me!

That’s the first thing that came to mind for me when I read this story. Despite the naysayers, a state legislator in Colorado has proposed a bill to make implanting a chip under a humans skin a misdemeanor. The motivation is to insure the privacy of people from having their every movement tracked, particularly by employers.

The first I had heard of the implanting of such chips was right here in Cincinnati where a local company (owned by a brother, no less — groan) implanted chips under the skin of some of its employees so that they could wave their hands over a reader to get access to certain areas of the building. While, according to the company, they are only used for this single use, I see this a scary foreshadowing of things to come.
Of course, some are mocking the Colorado measure as something that comes from the tin foil hat/black helicopter crowd. But, why is this fear so far-fetched?

Right now, we have the Patriot Act, we just went through 5 years of the National Security Agency being able to spy on U.S. citizens (which is illegal), the President wanting authority to open private mail and, looming in the background, a desire for a national ID. Why are chips under the skin so out of the question. All that would be needed is someone to argue that it would be an effective tool in fighting terrorism or, better yet, a way for parents to keep track of their children and, we’re off to the races.

So, I hope this measure does gain approval in Colorado. I, for one, don’t want to be tagged like a pet.

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