Patents and patent applications by major corporations.
IBM Patent application #20020165758 May 3, 2001 "Identification And Tracking Of Persons Using RFID-Tagged Items".
Proctor and Gamble Patents application #20020161651 August 22, 2001 "System And Methods for Tracking Consumers in a Store Environment".
National Cash Register Company Patents #6,659,344 December 9, 2003 "Automated Monitoring of Activity of Shoppers in a Market".
Phillips Electronics Patents #6,611,206 August 26 2003"Automated System for Monitoring Independent Persons Requiring Occasional Assistance".
Persephone Inc. Patent #20040174258 August 29, 2003 "Method and Apparatus for Locating and Tracking Persons ".
U.S. Department of Energy Patents #20020149468 April 11, 2001 "System and Method for Controlling Remote Devices".
There will always be those who believe the potential societal benefits of surveillance schemes outweigh the risks of abuse. However, though there is ample evidence that the supposed security "benefits"of mass surveillance are quite doubtful , the risks of unchecked government control are very real and not to be discounted . As the police and other agents of the state increasingly tap the power of the retail sector's growing arsenal of sophisticated surveillance technology, we may soon be living in George Orwell in 1984.
Now that we have the ability to do it, the pressure to require some form of permanent , foolproof ID for every person on earth is bound to increase steadily. We're already seeing the beginning of this mandate with the Real ID Act. The starting point will be spychipping driver's licences , building access cards, student name tags, and the end point will be microchips embedded in our flesh.
First, we'll implant societies outcastes like prisoners justifying it is a security measure. When such chipping becomes commonplace and hence "acceptable" in those populations , society may expand those efforts tosemi-captive populations like the elderly, school kids, and the military . Next will come government employees and those working for major corporations. After all, the argument will go, no ones forcing you to do it-although if you don't go along, you can kiss your paycheck goodbye. Finally, when most everyone else has been signed up, they'll start coming for the rest.
When an opponent declares , "I will not come over to your side, and you will not get me on your side," I calmly say,"Your child belongs to me already. A people lives forever. What are you? You will pass on. Your descendants,however, now stand in the new camps. In short time they will know nothing else but this new community .
Adolf Hitler
