NY Daily News
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The U.S. continues to flirt with the idea of a ‘human barcode,’ an electronic ID chip assigned to every person at birth.
Would you barcode your baby?
Microchip implants have become standard practice for our pets, but have
been a tougher sell when it comes to the idea of putting them in
people.
Science fiction author Elizabeth Moon last week rekindled the debate on
whether it's a good idea to "barcode" infants at birth in an interview
on a BBC radio program.
“I would insist on every individual having a unique ID permanently
attached — a barcode if you will — an implanted chip to provide an easy,
fast inexpensive way to identify individuals,” she said on The Forum, a
weekly show that features "a global thinking" discussing a "radical,
inspiring or controversial idea" for 60 seconds .
Moon believes the tools most commonly used for surveillance and
identification — like video cameras and DNA testing — are slow, costly
and often ineffective.
In her opinion, human barcoding would save a lot of time and money.
The proposal isn’t too far-fetched - it is already technically possible
to "barcode" a human - but does it violate our rights to privacy?
