Quote:U.S. to Weigh Computer Chip Implant

WASHINGTON (AP) - A Florida technology company is poised to ask the government for permission to market a first-ever computer ID chip that could be embedded beneath a person's skin.

For airports, nuclear power plants and other high security facilities, the immediate benefits could be a closer-to-foolproof security system. But privacy advocates warn the chip could lead to encroachments on civil liberties.

The implant technology is another case of science fiction evolving into fact. Those who have long advanced the idea of implant chips say it could someday mean no more easy-to-counterfeit ID cards nor dozing security guards.

Just a computer chip - about the size of a grain of rice - that would be difficult to remove and tough to mimic.

Other uses of the technology on the horizon, from an added device that would allow satellite tracking of an individual's every movement to the storage of sensitive data like medical records, are already attracting interest across the globe for tasks like foiling kidnappings or assisting paramedics.

Applied Digital Solutions' new ``VeriChip'' is another sign that Sept. 11 has catapulted the science of security into a realm with uncharted possibilities - and also new fears for privacy.

Applied Digital, based in Palm Beach, Fla., says it will soon begin the process of getting Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) approval for the device, and intends to limit its marketing to companies that ensure its human use is voluntary.

``The line in the sand that we draw is that the use of the VeriChip would always be voluntarily,'' said Keith Bolton, chief technology officer and a vice president at Applied Digital. ``We would never provide it to a company that intended to coerce people to use it.''

But the company was hesitant to market them for people because of ethical questions. The devastation of Sept. 11 solidified the company's resolve to market the human chip and brought about a new sensibility about the possible interest.

The makers of the chip also foresee it being used to help emergency workers diagnose a lost Alzheimer's patient or access an unconscious patient's medical history.

Getting the implant would go something like this:

A person or company buys the chip from Applied Digital for about $200 and the company encodes it with the desired information. The person seeking the implant takes the tiny device - about the size of a grain of rice, to their doctor, who can insert it with a large needle device.

The doctor monitors the device for several weeks to make sure it doesn't move and that no infection develops.

The device has no power supply, rather it contains a millimeter-long magnetic coil that is activated when a scanning device is run across the skin above it. A tiny transmitter on the chip sends out the data.

Without a scanner, the chip cannot be read. Applied Digital plans to give away chip readers to hospitals and ambulance companies, in the hopes they'll become standard equipment.

The chip has drawn attention from several religious groups.

Theologian and author Terry Cook said he worries the identification chip could be the ``mark of the beast,'' an identifying mark that all people will be forced to wear just before the end times, according to the Bible.

Applied Digital has consulted theologians and appeared on the religious television program the ``700 Club'' to assure viewers the chip didn't fit the biblical description of the mark because it is under the skin and hidden from view.

Quote:Family Gets Computer Chips Implant
BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) - A Florida family on Friday became the first to be implanted with computer chips that researchers hope will someday become an easy way to provide emergency room staffers with patients' medical information.

Jeff and Leslie Jacobs, along with their 14-year-old son, Derek, had the tiny chips implanted in their arms. Each chip is about the size of a grain of rice, and insertion takes about a minute under local anesthesia.

The chips, called the VeriChip, were designed by Palm Beach-based Applied Digital Solutions Inc. They are similar to chips implanted in pets to identify them if they are lost.

The family wanted the implants in case of future medical emergencies.

``We're doing this as a security for us, because we've worked so hard to save my husband's life,'' said Leslie Jacobs, 46.

Her 48-year-old husband has suffered through cancer, a car crash, a degenerative spinal condition, chronic eye disease and abdominal operations. His injuries have forced him to quit his dental practice.

``It's been really easy and I feel a lot better that I have it,'' he said after the implant.

The chips used by the Jacobs family contain only telephone numbers and information about previous medications. The data can be read by a hand-held computer and printed out.

The Food and Drug Administration said in April that it would not regulate the implant as long as it contains no medical data. Company officials said they were free to proceed because the implant contains identification numbers that correspond to personal medical information in a separate database.

The FDA did not consider the implant to be a medical device, company officials said. An FDA spokeswoman in Miami did not immediately return a phone call. The FDA had said regulation would be needed if medical records were stored to guard against storage of outdated records.

Company officials hope to eventually include more extensive information. The company says it would be particularly valuable for those who suffer from Alzheimer's disease or others with difficulty providing medical information on their own.

VeriChip is expected to sell for about $200. A scanner used to read information contained in the chip would cost between $1,000 and $3,000.

The chip, which could also be used as a security tool, has stirred debate over its potential use as a ``Big Brother'' device to track people or invade the privacy of their homes or workplaces.

Jacobs and his family brush aside those arguments. Anyone can be tracked through the Internet and e-mail, credit cards and cellular phones, they say.

Quote:Her 48-year-old husband has suffered through cancer, a car crash, a degenerative spinal condition, chronic eye disease and abdominal operations.

Quote:Her 48-year-old husband has suffered through cancer, a car crash, a degenerative spinal condition, chronic eye disease and abdominal operations. His injuries have forced him to quit his dental practice.

Quote:Jacobs and his family brush aside those arguments. Anyone can be tracked through the Internet and e-mail, credit cards and cellular phones, they say.