>A Chip ID That's Only Skin-Deep
> Biotech: Firm plans to sell implantable devices that
>can store a variety of data about you.
>
>
>By DAVID STREITFELD, Times Staff Writer
>
>
>By DAVID STREITFELD -- A Florida company is poised to
>become the first to sell microchips designed to be
>implanted into human beings, an achievement that opens
>the door to new systems of medical monitoring and ID
>screening.
>
>Implantable chips have long been discussed by
>technologists and denounced by those who object on
>religious grounds or fear their use by a totalitarian
>state. But the company that did the test, Applied
>Digital Solutions of Palm Beach, said the specter of
>terrorism is shifting attitudes. The direct union of
>man and computer is no longer dismissed out of hand.
>
>
>"The bottom line is, when people are trying to regain
>their peace of mind, they're more open to new
>approaches," said Keith Bolton, Applied Digital's
>chief technology officer.
>
>Applied Digital, which had revenue of $165 million
>last year, has made its mark by selling electronic
>chips that help farmers keep tabs on the health and
>safety of their cows and other livestock. The company
>also makes a monitoring bracelet for Alzheimer
>patients, so that families can use global positioning
>satellite systems to help find loved ones who might
>have wandered off.
>
>Now the company sees a market among those who have
>artificial organs and limbs. These folks will have up
>to 60 words of relevant medical information implanted
>on chips. If the patients are brought unconscious into
>an emergency room, technicians equipped with special
>scanners will easily decipher the body's internal
>topography.
>
>The chips would need approval from the Food and Drug
>Administration, which Applied Digital said it expects
>to receive by midyear. The company said it already has
>secured permission from the Federal Communications
>Commission--necessary because the chips use radio
>frequencies.
>
>Regulatory approval is not necessary overseas,
>however. Applied Digital expects to be selling chips
>in South America in about 90 days. One potential
>market is kidnap targets, who could use these chips in
>combination with global positioning devices.
>
>Other potential applications would put the chips in
>the role of an ultimate ID, capable of performing many
>of the roles that are performed by keys and ATM cards.
>
>"I'd be shocked if within 10 years you couldn't get a
>chip implanted that would unlock your house, start
>your car and give you money," said Chris Hables Gray,
>an associate professor of computer science at the
>University of Great Falls in Montana and author of
>"The Cyborg Citizen."
>
>English cyberneticist Kevin Warwick won considerable
>notoriety three years ago by implanting an electronic
>transmitter above his left elbow. The implant opened
>doors and switched on lights at his British University
>of Reading offices. He now is working on experiments
>in which his nervous system is linked with a computer.
>
>If Warwick is the equivalent of the mad genius who
>injects himself with a new vaccine to see whether it
>works, the Applied Digital volunteer, 55-year-old New
>Jersey surgeon Richard Seelig, sees himself as simply
>a consultant thrust by events into an unexpected role.
>
>Seelig had been working with Applied Digital since
>early this year. He expected to do a traditional
>scientific study, calling for volunteers who wanted to
>test out the role of chip implants. Then came the
>terrorist attacks Sept. 11. Five days later, Seelig
>injected himself with the chips.
>
>"I was so compelled by what had happened," he said in
>a phone interview. "One of the potential applications
>suddenly jumped out--the ability to have a secure form
>of identification--and I felt I had to take the next
>step."
>
>So he injected one chip into his left forearm; the
>other went in his right leg, next to his artificial
>hip. Each could hold several sentences of information,
>although at the moment they just contain serial
>numbers.
>
>"There's no deformity of the skin," Seelig said. "I
>feel just the same as I did before."
>
>The chips that will be marketed next year are not true
>tracking devices. For one thing, they have no internal
>power source. Their data can't be read without a
>scanner.
>
>The next generation of body chips, which transmits
>signals from a distance, is still several years away.
>At the moment, this kind of tracking device would have
>to be about 1 inch by 1 inch, raising the likelihood
>of a rather unsightly bulge.
>
>Applied Digital has a market value of 95 million. Its
>shares closed unchanged Tuesday at 38 cents on Nasdaq.
>
>No one interviewed Tuesday questioned that Applied
>Digital had done what it said it did, but not everyone
>thought there would be a huge market.
>
>"It's a glorified bar code, and there are not a lot of
>people who are going to want it," said Michael Nova,
>the founder of Graviton, a La Jolla company developing
>wireless machine-to-machine communication systems.
>Using such a chip as a built-in credit card, Nova
>said, would require a great deal of work.
>
>"Stores would have to get the right software; credit
>card companies would have to want to do it," Nova
>said. "At the moment, this is an intriguing idea that
>doesn't have a market."
>
>Which isn't necessarily going to keep it from being
>popular, said futurist Paul Saffo.
>
>"As some people wring their hands about the invasion
>of privacy and civil liberty, a whole other generation
>is going to go, 'Cool! I've always wanted to embed
>technology in my body.' It's going to be fashion,"
>Saffo said. "One sure sign that teenagers will love it
>is if it terrifies their parents."
> Biotech: Firm plans to sell implantable devices that
>can store a variety of data about you.
>
>
>By DAVID STREITFELD, Times Staff Writer
>
>
>By DAVID STREITFELD -- A Florida company is poised to
>become the first to sell microchips designed to be
>implanted into human beings, an achievement that opens
>the door to new systems of medical monitoring and ID
>screening.
>
>Implantable chips have long been discussed by
>technologists and denounced by those who object on
>religious grounds or fear their use by a totalitarian
>state. But the company that did the test, Applied
>Digital Solutions of Palm Beach, said the specter of
>terrorism is shifting attitudes. The direct union of
>man and computer is no longer dismissed out of hand.
>
>
>"The bottom line is, when people are trying to regain
>their peace of mind, they're more open to new
>approaches," said Keith Bolton, Applied Digital's
>chief technology officer.
>
>Applied Digital, which had revenue of $165 million
>last year, has made its mark by selling electronic
>chips that help farmers keep tabs on the health and
>safety of their cows and other livestock. The company
>also makes a monitoring bracelet for Alzheimer
>patients, so that families can use global positioning
>satellite systems to help find loved ones who might
>have wandered off.
>
>Now the company sees a market among those who have
>artificial organs and limbs. These folks will have up
>to 60 words of relevant medical information implanted
>on chips. If the patients are brought unconscious into
>an emergency room, technicians equipped with special
>scanners will easily decipher the body's internal
>topography.
>
>The chips would need approval from the Food and Drug
>Administration, which Applied Digital said it expects
>to receive by midyear. The company said it already has
>secured permission from the Federal Communications
>Commission--necessary because the chips use radio
>frequencies.
>
>Regulatory approval is not necessary overseas,
>however. Applied Digital expects to be selling chips
>in South America in about 90 days. One potential
>market is kidnap targets, who could use these chips in
>combination with global positioning devices.
>
>Other potential applications would put the chips in
>the role of an ultimate ID, capable of performing many
>of the roles that are performed by keys and ATM cards.
>
>"I'd be shocked if within 10 years you couldn't get a
>chip implanted that would unlock your house, start
>your car and give you money," said Chris Hables Gray,
>an associate professor of computer science at the
>University of Great Falls in Montana and author of
>"The Cyborg Citizen."
>
>English cyberneticist Kevin Warwick won considerable
>notoriety three years ago by implanting an electronic
>transmitter above his left elbow. The implant opened
>doors and switched on lights at his British University
>of Reading offices. He now is working on experiments
>in which his nervous system is linked with a computer.
>
>If Warwick is the equivalent of the mad genius who
>injects himself with a new vaccine to see whether it
>works, the Applied Digital volunteer, 55-year-old New
>Jersey surgeon Richard Seelig, sees himself as simply
>a consultant thrust by events into an unexpected role.
>
>Seelig had been working with Applied Digital since
>early this year. He expected to do a traditional
>scientific study, calling for volunteers who wanted to
>test out the role of chip implants. Then came the
>terrorist attacks Sept. 11. Five days later, Seelig
>injected himself with the chips.
>
>"I was so compelled by what had happened," he said in
>a phone interview. "One of the potential applications
>suddenly jumped out--the ability to have a secure form
>of identification--and I felt I had to take the next
>step."
>
>So he injected one chip into his left forearm; the
>other went in his right leg, next to his artificial
>hip. Each could hold several sentences of information,
>although at the moment they just contain serial
>numbers.
>
>"There's no deformity of the skin," Seelig said. "I
>feel just the same as I did before."
>
>The chips that will be marketed next year are not true
>tracking devices. For one thing, they have no internal
>power source. Their data can't be read without a
>scanner.
>
>The next generation of body chips, which transmits
>signals from a distance, is still several years away.
>At the moment, this kind of tracking device would have
>to be about 1 inch by 1 inch, raising the likelihood
>of a rather unsightly bulge.
>
>Applied Digital has a market value of 95 million. Its
>shares closed unchanged Tuesday at 38 cents on Nasdaq.
>
>No one interviewed Tuesday questioned that Applied
>Digital had done what it said it did, but not everyone
>thought there would be a huge market.
>
>"It's a glorified bar code, and there are not a lot of
>people who are going to want it," said Michael Nova,
>the founder of Graviton, a La Jolla company developing
>wireless machine-to-machine communication systems.
>Using such a chip as a built-in credit card, Nova
>said, would require a great deal of work.
>
>"Stores would have to get the right software; credit
>card companies would have to want to do it," Nova
>said. "At the moment, this is an intriguing idea that
>doesn't have a market."
>
>Which isn't necessarily going to keep it from being
>popular, said futurist Paul Saffo.
>
>"As some people wring their hands about the invasion
>of privacy and civil liberty, a whole other generation
>is going to go, 'Cool! I've always wanted to embed
>technology in my body.' It's going to be fashion,"
>Saffo said. "One sure sign that teenagers will love it
>is if it terrifies their parents."
