Wednesday, November 20, 2002
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Wednesday, November 20, 2002 |
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Big Brother just wants to keep us safe, right? By MONROE ROARK How would feel if you knew that every move you made, every second of every day, could be tracked and recorded? More importantly, do you really understand the potential significance of this capability? Two recent news items prove that this is closer to being a reality than many people might think, especially if they connect the dots. The technology is obviously here; it's just a matter of how it's applied. First we have the new Information Awareness Office, now bunkered in the Pentagon and headed by John Poindexter, the former admiral identified more than a decade ago with the Iran-Contra affair. The mission of his department is supposed to be a key ingredient in the war against terrorism, and it could very well be just that, but it will also be much more. Simply put, this office will eventually be able to keep track of every credit card purchase you make, every medical prescription you fill, every time you fill up your tank and pay at the pump, every time you drive your car through the toll booth and use your "easy-pay" scanner, and any other electronic transaction you make. Of course, you're not a terrorist, but that determination cannot be made for certain until all of this information is sifted through. Poindexter has been given a $200 million budget with the capability to create dossiers on 300 million Americans. Even more valuable is the possibility that the new federal homeland security legislation could give him the authorization to proceed without worrying too much about privacy laws. Has all of this got your attention yet? Anyone who has read or heard anything about this in the past week has no doubt also been bombarded with various Orwellian references, as scenes from the novel "1984" spring to mind. Will this help our government identify and eliminate serious threats to our safety, or will it lead to the creation of a police state? While we chew on that, here's another technological leap to deal with. The VeriChip, introduced to the public several months ago, is a radio-frequency identification chip that can be implanted underneath the skin. Applied Digital Solutions, the company that makes the VeriChip, wants to make it available to the general public. A seminar was convened last week in Washington to discuss the pros and cons of using such devices on humans. Among the questions raised are possible applications of this technology, under what circumstances to use the chip, what information could be collected and by whom. It would be very easy to come up with a hundred good reasons to use the VeriChip. You could locate lost or kidnapped children, track soldiers behind enemy lines, and essentially find anyone, anywhere (if Tom Hanks had one of these, "Cast Away" would have been a very short movie). On an even more practical note, you could wave your arm over the scanner at the grocery store's checkout counter. A paramedic could scan your unconscious body and know immediately what serious medical conditions you might have. How about using it to track parolees and convicted criminals on probation? What if the government decided to require implants for certain types of work to make security tighter? It doesn't take a genius to see how far this could go and how quickly it could get there, especially if a terrorism-conscious government grants exceptional latitude in applications with national security implications. Now, use just a little bit of imagination and put these two scenarios together. The United States has a gigantic database to compile information on everyone in the country. This information is constantly updated as citizens use electronic transactions for every facet of their lives, with tiny radio chips implanted in their arms. Regardless of whether anyone thinks this will actually happen, there is no doubt that the technology is in place, and the more threats to our safety and our way of life that surface, the more acceptable these kinds of measures will become. One more thing: While you consider all of this, take a look at the 13th chapter of Revelation. Maybe these aren't such new ideas after all. [Monroe Roark's Web address is www.mroark.com.]
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