PRAXIS BUSINESS SCHOOL,

KOLKATA

HUMAN CHIPS

SUBMITTED TO: DR. PRITHWIS MUKHERJEE

BUSINESS INFORMATION SYTEM PROJECT

BY,
PRAVEEN KUMAR GUPTA
ROLL NO: B10017
CLASS: 2010-2012
 ABSTRACT

The current population of the world is 6.6 billion and the projected population by 2050 is
approximately 10 billion. Maintaining law and order, national security, controlling epidemic diseases
etc, already gives nightmares to the system, imagine what it would be like in 2050. There is a need of
a technology which could make it easier for the system to manage everything. Technology is made to
help human beings. What could that technology be like? Imagine having some sort of chip implanted
in the human body that would track movement and internal body conditions.

The human chip

Introduction to the idea

A human chip is an integrated circuited device or RFID (radio frequency identification) transponder
encased in a silicate glass and implanted in the body of a human being. RFID technology is used for
tracking goods, animals and even humans. The chip consist of a microchip and a small antenna
embedded in a medical glass and then wrapped in a polypropylene material called Biobond to stop
the implant migrating inside the body. The capsule length is 12 mm length –about double the size of a
grain of rice – and can be inserted under the skin using a 12 guage needle. A subdermal implant
typically contains a unique ID number that can be linked to information contained in an extra
database, such as personal identification, medical history, allergies, contact information and it also
would be possible to be tracked by the system like what a GPS does.

The first experiment with an RFID implant was carried out in 1998 by the British scientist Kevin
Warwick. As a test, his implant was used to open doors, switch on lights, and cause verbal output
within a building. The implant has since been held in the science museum (London).
In 2002, the verichip corpartion (known as the positive ID corporation since 2009) approval from the
united stated Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market its device in the U.S within specific
guidelines. The device received approval in 2004, and was marketed under the name Verichip or
verimed. But in 2007, it was revealed that nearly identical implants had caused cancer in hundreds of
laboratory animals. Finally in May 2010, the verichip corporation discontinued marketing the
implantable human microchip.

Nowadays you often hear in the news that more and more people (usually unfortunately children) or
being lost (usually kidnapped). So the idea is to implant a small chip into human body that would help
us navigate the movement of an individual. This device would be sending radio signals periodically to
the satellite, which can thus trace the location from which it was sent.

There will be two keys that would be given after the implant. One would be required to be with the
police and the other with the parents. Now as the satellite gets the signals, it has to be send
somewhere. This would be sent first to the police and also to the parents of the child. The police can
type the unique combination that corresponds to the ID number of the person of the device to get the
information about their location. Only certain people would be able to track any person down for
security reasons. This power would be given to the government. They will have to definitely have a
very good team in handling this sort of responsibility.

The device would definitely be required to be charged periodically so it will be having a very small
solar battery fitted in the chip. The chip will be installed very strategically in the human body so as to
receive maximum solar light without causing inconvenience to human beings. Ideally it is the eyes that
are exposed to maximum solar light, but it would be convenient if the chip is installed in the hand,
because for the chip to be installed there has to be surgery performed. Having a surgery on the eyes
is more serious than having a surgery on hands. This surgery would be requires to be done at birth
itself.

The advantages of having a technology that could locate an individual:

A lot protection from kidnapping

More safety and thus freedom

The disadvantage of having a technology that could locate an individual:

Surgery has to be performed at birth. At this time even the senses are not matured.

Cost of the project development of the project will be very high, probably in billions.

Cost of launching the satellite and programming cast will be huge.

Lack of privacy

Hackers could locate anyone.

Chip implanted on human hand immediately after surgery. The yellow coloration comes from
the iodine used to disinfect the hand after the surgery

After completely recovering from surgery

 This is what the X-ray of the hand would look like

We can thus debate that if we are living in a free world and if everyone has to be chipped then how is
anyone a free person? We should understand that today crime rate has gone so high that it actually is
doubtful whether a person leaving his house in the morning for work will return home in the evening.
Thus having a technology like this would be of very great use. There will security concern by an
individual when he knows he can be tracked down by someone. For this the government and the
police have to ensure that they do at any cost give out to any information to any external party. people
have to understand that this is done for their good and the government has to ensure the public that
their security will never will be at stake by any chance.

The other benefit of this chip is that it would be able to understand the internal body behaviour of the
individual to which it has been implanted in. It would be able to sense any sort of allergies, medical
traumas the individual is going through and may develop. This could be save a lot of lives and could
increase survival rate. Diseases like cancer can be identified at its earliest stage and treatment can be
immediately started. Any sort of treatment done by an individual could be fed into a central database.
Thus at later stages of life doctors can have complete medical history of the patient. This chip would
also be able to track an individual who is having a heart attack. This way even if the individual is alone
at home and nobody to take him to the hospital, there would be an ambulance sent to his place and
his life could be saved. This chip does not store any data, instead it consist of an ID number. It is
through this unique number that the details of the patient medical history can be retrieved from a
master data base.
For people with chronic illness or who have difficulty in communicating , a human chip would give
hospitals all the information they need in the case of an emergency. People with mental health
problems but who deemed suitable for integration within the community could be tagged and
monitored in case they run into difficulties. When a baby is born and the chip is implanted immediately
he /she get tagged too. It that case the mothers ID and the babies ID are matched. This would prevent
from babies getting stolen at the time of birth.

The RFID chip which was made earlier by Verichip corporation contained a 16-digit ID number. This
number was transmitted when a hand held verichip scanner is passed within a few inches of the
implant. Participating hospitals and emergency workers would enter this number into a secure page
on the Verichip corporation’s website to access medical information that the patient had previously
stored on the file with the company.

RFID chips are present today which are capable of sensing internal body behaviour and medical
traumas. In 2006 it was a 2.6 billion$ industry and estimated to be 10 times in 2016. This chip would
also help insurance companies to perform better. They will be at a better position to decide which
individual to insure for how much amount.

The other benefit this chip would be bringing is towards the security of the nation. Imagine if all
individuals have this chip implanted in them and thus they can easily be tracked down by the
government. Say if there is a robbery in your house or in a bank, it would be easier for the police to
track down the robbers. It should be made mandatory for every individual to carry some sort of ID
card that will also consist of their chip ID number. And today CCTV camera’s are already present all
banks so knowing the robbers ID number would not be such a difficult task. Once the ID number is
found out, the police would easily trace down the robbers and nab them.

Having this sort of chip would reduce the number of terrorist too. There would always be a fear of
being caught if they carried on any terror activities or any sort of harm to the society. Prisoners in jail
will never be able to escape in any case. They would be easily caught within a matter of minutes if
they even managed to get out of the prison boundary.

Theoretically, the human chip will be able to locate an individual by latitude, longitude, altitude,
direction of movement, speed. Government could use implants to track and persecute human rights
activists, dissidents, and political opponents; criminals and domestic abusers could use them to
prevent captives from escaping, slaveholders could use them to prevent then to locate and abduct
children.

Another use of this implant using the tracking application by the government would be to monitor the
activities of person infected with HIV, aimed at reducing their chances of infecting other people. This
way the government will be able to control HIV spread to a very large extent.

To make forgeries more difficult government can introduce a separate column for the ID number in an
individual passport. This way the government can be able to make sure that an individual will not have
more than one passport. An individual travelling is then traced. Any suspicious movement could be
noticed and the individual can be stopped or questioned. However, previously something like this was
used and experiments have demonstrated that such chips are not just as secure as the authorities
would like the public to believe, with the result that new passport also have to include shielding within
their covers to avoid data transmission when they are not being used. This poses a serious problem
for the idea than an implanted chip will someday replace a passport.

The next level of innovation on this chip is if this chip could be used to restrict body movement or
something like that. There would be centres to keep an eye on certain number of individual in an area.
If someone indulges in any sort of behaviour or acts in any way which is harmful to the society, he/she
could be frozen. The centre will get an alert that this ID is indulging in a harmful activity and
immediately the controller would freeze him. That individual would just fall down where ever he/she is.
This way the accident can be avoided.

Not only alot money would be required to put this application in place but also the system has to be
very well managed. The controller is a very key person here. He cannot be ignorant of his job. He has
to be an honest person. He could be bribed for just freezing somebody and the consequence of doing
that could be fatal. He has to be quick in identifying the individual or people who are creating a ruckus
and freeze them as soon as possible so that the damage has not been done or to keep the damage to
as low as possible.

There could be a possibility of computing all the chips together. Like cloud computing, chips could be
installed in products such as mobile phones, by doing so financial companies would be able to serve
better. After inserting the chip on the mobile phone, the user’s phone can be linked to bank accounts
and used in mobile payment. Credit card information can be stored, and bank accounts can be
directly accessed using the enabled handset. The phone, if used as a vector for mobile payment, has
a security in that users would be required to enter a password or PIN (personal identification number)
before payment is authorised.

If the chips are installed in cars for tracking purpose government can use applications for traffic
management, while automotive companies can use various applications of the chip for product
management. Many of the solutions may work in together in the future, though privacy regulations
prevent many initiatives from moving forward at the same pace that technology allows.

Today RFID is being used for E-tolling in motorways, for example in Dubai this technology is used. In
Turkey, RFID has been used in the motorways and bridges as a payment system since November
2008.

RFID combines with mobile computing and web technologies provide a way for organisation to
indentify and manage their assets. Mobile computing, with integrated RFID paperwork, give proof of
identification and attendance. This approach eliminates manual data entry. This technology could be
used to even track shipments.

RFID tags are often a complement, but not a substitute for, UPC or EAN barcode. They may not ever
completely replace barcodes, due in part to their highest cost and the advantage of multiple data
sources on the same object. The storage of data associated with tracking items will require many
terabytes. Filtering and categorizing RFID data is needed to create useful information. Any product of
any shape or size can be tagged. Also the information in the master data base cannot be duplicated
easily. RFID reduces the labour cost of the company by providing a good tracking system. Operations
 like tracking the pallets, cartons and cases can be efficiently done using this technology.

There can be RFID readers also. These readers can be installed at doors of an individual’s home.
Before entering into the through the door one has to get his chip scanned. For this he just needs to
expose his hand above the RFID reader and once the scan is completed the door would open if the
ID’s matched. This can prevent theft to very large extent and since all chips have different ID’s it
would be impossible for any unauthorised person to enter the house.

This technology can be used even by airport authorities for tagging a passenger’s luggage. This
technology can be used in social retailing too. When customers enter a dressing room, the mirror
reflects their image and also images of the apparel item being worn by celebrities on an interactive
display. A webcam also projects an image of the consumer wearing item on the website for everyone
to see. This creates an interaction between the consumer inside the store and their social network
outside the store. The technology in this system is an RFID interrogator antenna in the dressing room
and electronic product code RFID tags on the apparel item.

Chips can be implanted even on clothes. These chips can be implanted on school children’s uniform,
bags. This system could be used to check in and out of the main gate, to track attendance and
prevent unauthorised entrance. Some private schools in England use this technology.

RFID technology can be used in casinos too. The chips which are bought from the casinos for
gambling can be implanted with this RFID chips. These chips will exactly look the same as the old
ones. This will prevent counterfeiting. There will computer system and RFID readers in these casinos
that can identify legitimate chips and detect implications.

Criticism

Let us discuss some of the problems which the RFID chips faced and even some of which the human
chips may face.

1- Technical problems with the RFID chip

The RFID chips faced some technological problems. The ID programmed in

the each chip was unsecured and could be read by any person with an appropriate scanner.
There by the RFID chips had lost their uniqueness. The lack of meaningful data on the chip
also means that the reader must have access to the database, something which the RFID chip
manufacturing company (very chip corporation) did not guarantee. While in the case of human
chips only a person would be allowed to get access to the scanner and data of any individual
will be confidential and will never be divulged to any party at any cost.

2- Medical problems with the RFID chips

The first problem is one of migration, if the RFID chips were to dislodge from its
point of injection it is so small that it could migrate to locations within the body that could cause
health risks. Chip migration is a common from owners of animals with similar implants. The
second problem is one of radiation. The RFID chip and the chips are nothing but a transponder
of radio waves. This could lead to cancer. Few studies have shown that with the use of RFID
chips there was an increase in cancer rates especially in the case of animals at the location of
the device. Another concern of this device is that people with an implant cannot go for an MRI
scan because of the fear of interaction of the device. In case of human chips which will be
implanted discreetly under the skin, individual will be required to wear a tag warning healthcare
staff that they have an implant.
 3- Identity theft

Identity theft is one of the most serious issues of this chip. The RFID chip could
be read and copied by any competent electrical engineer, the idea of using a chip for secure
access needs careful thinking. Anybody would feel very conscious at the very thought that he
is being traced. A person could be killed if the security of keeping the data is compromised.

4- Personal freedom and human tagging

If the government has its way it would go about everything that moves.
These chips can be inserted in products too and can be traced, replacing the barcode. The
radio frequency waves can penetrate through walls, briefcases, wallets, pretty much
everything that would normally think of as being private areas.

5- Hacking and misuse

There is no reason for an individual for any person to not trust this technology
completely. Foolproof security is what an individual wants. The problem is that it has
become a part of everyday lives to hear about some forgery happening in which some sort
of technology was to be blamed. Most common examples are forgery due to misuse of
credit cards, mobile phones etc. All it would take is a careless employee accidently
everyone’s identification numbers to an ill-intentioned hacker. Since it is not possible to
reprogram chips once they are implanted, it is not acceptable by anyone to go through
another surgery first to remove the old chip and then re-implant a new chip. Why would
anybody like to go through all these for no fault of his.
 SUMMARY

The human chips technology is the next step to the existing RFID technology. The RFID technology
was capable was performing functions like maintaining database of an individual’s medical history,
could detect what an individual is allergic to, tracking of products like clothes, vehicles etc. It can be
used for mobile banking, by hospitals, security agencies etc. Human chips is an integrated circuited
device, it is a enclosed in a silicon glass like structure and implanted in human body by performing a
very small surgery under the influence of general anaesthesia. The human chips will be installed in
human beings. Doing this we can track an individual’s movements. It will be made mandatory for
every individual to have this chip implanted. He will have a unique ID number too. This ID number
would be printed even in his passport or for that matter even on the UID program which will be there
in India. This technology will surely be good for the society. It would be a safer place to stay. At the
end of the day technology is made to make human life easier, which surely the human chips will do.
 References

www.greaterthings.com

www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2008/

www.emqus.com

www.harmlesswise.com

www.suite101.com

www.buzzle.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyborg

www.news.cnet.com/human-chips

http://physiolgenomics.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/2/2/53

http://www.bnet.com/blog/drug-business/positiveid-8217s-latest-human-chip-implant-scare-story-
8220medical-identity-theft-8221/4549