• More Blogs
• Observations »
• Bering in Mind »
• Cross-check »
• Extinction Countdown »
• Solar at Home »
• Expeditions »
• Guest Blog »
• Anecdotes from the Archive »

The use of microchips to track people (such as those embedded in hospital wristbands) and products (those uncomfortable tags on clothing that have to be cut off prior to wearing) has come under fire from civil rights groups who claim that big corporations are using this technology as a tool for spying. But what about when these tags are embedded in people themselves, rather than the things they wear?

That's what Mexican security firm Xega SA, which sells technology for tracking people, wants to do, particularly in cases when people are held for ransom. For about $3,700, the company will implant a chip the size of a grain of rice (it costs another $1,800 per year for monitoring), reports the Telegraph. Although it is unclear where the chip is likely to be implanted in a person's body its customers carry with them a panic button that can be pressed if a person feels he or she is in danger. A transmitter then sends signals via satellite to pinpoint the location of the person in distress, reports Reuters. (Xega did not respond to requests from ScientificAmerican.com for an interview).

It's perhaps the next obvious step in radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology, which companies already use to gather information about consumer behavior that can be used as a marketing tool, to track merchandise in order to protect themselves from shoplifting, and to locate patients who've wandered away from hospital beds. Xega's technology is troubling in a number of ways, in particular that there's a market for it in countries including Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela.

But there are also several questions about whether the technology will actually work in an emergency. Implanted chips have been used in self-experimentation (such as England's self-styled cyborg Kevin Warwick) and by security contractors to automatically communicate their security credentials over short distances to gain access to a secure facility . While Warwick was actually plugged into a computer, the alternative has been to send and receive information via RFID, even though this technology has a limited range (in most cases about 25 feet) and the signal can be weakened by any metal that comes between the RFID reader and the tag, says Roy Want, a principal engineer at Intel Research/CTG in Santa Clara, Calif.

A chip that relies on GPS poses a whole new set of challenges. For one, the chip would need an antenna and radio as well as a battery powerful enough for its signal to reach a satellite network. "I'm skeptical," Want says, "that you could build something that could reach a satellite and yet be small enough to put under your skin."

Other problems are more logistical than technical. When the person's captor finds out about the embedded GPS beacon, it would likely be removed in a very painful way and be rendered useless if the captive is moved to a new location. Additionally, sometimes knowing where a captive is being held is only part of the problem, particularly if the captive is being held by guerilla forces situated deep in the Amazon, which is the case in several South American countries (the rescue of Colombia's Ingrid Betancourt and three American security contractors provided some insight into the plight of these captives).

Still, with kidnapping becoming a lucrative industry in several countries (often as a means of funding anti-government rebels), technology such as what Xega is proposing would be welcome as another tool for law enforcement to work with.

(Image courtesy of iStockphoto; Copyright: Dave Pilibosian)

10 Comments

1. 1. ChrisJones 03:52 PM 8/26/08

   This so reminds me of the spate of 'child registration' organizations that made millions by riding on the wave of child abduction terror in the early and mid 90s. How many of these still exist? Parents paid sometimes hundreds of dollars for child registration services that would help find the kids in the almost inevitable event they were abducted. Call me one of little faith, but this was a scam, plain and simple. RFID for kidnapping? Probably not. If I was a kidnapper, I'd just locate the thing, and extract it and put it in an envelope and mail it to someplace very far away. Send this ostensibly great law enforcement tool, and consequently law enforcement, in the wrong direction for a while. Meanwhile, as they track down the radio-rice, I'm getting lost with my hostage. Or I'd just destroy it. Anything that a satellite can detect, any reasonably techno-savvy kidnapper could detect just as easily.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

2. 2. ChrisJones 03:54 PM 8/26/08

   Left out my point - Xega is looking to make a whole boatload of money by playing the fear card.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

3. 3. JuergenHartl 04:13 PM 8/26/08

   Scary! Total control, maybe even combine it with a DNA database!
   It would not stop any criminal, but diminish the little civil rights that are left.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

4. 4. ChrisJones 04:26 PM 8/26/08

   Yeah, and there's that. Aside from tracking shipping containers and pets, the only possible use for RFID implants is invasive tab-keeping. It becomes the modern version of "may I have your papers, please." So the government institutes a "voluntary" implant program . It's completely voluntary... but... You must have an RFID scan before you can get health care, access public transportation or purchase services. Car manufacturers will build RFID into new cars so that when you buy a car, your RFID must be keyed to the vehicle. Oh, yeah, there are ways to make even "voluntary" implantation essentially mandatory. Civil rights? What civil rights?

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

5. 5. ChrisJones 04:51 PM 8/26/08

   It broke! moving along... ... the only possible use for RFID would be for control. So the federal government initiates a completely "voluntary" RFID program. Many people resist, of course. But, the RFID slowly becomes the modern version of "may I have your papers, Please?" Quietly things happen. Before long, an RFID scan is required in order to board commercial aircraft or use public transportation. Your new car will soon be keyed to your RFID implant. Before long, anyone without the implant will find it difficult to function in society. Yeah, civil rights? What civil rights?

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

6. 6. rfid person of interest 05:13 PM 8/26/08

   You Blew it. This is not the correct story. The products you are talking about are several products not one! There is no one device the size of the verichip tag which can be read from outer space. It just is not possible!
   
   get your facts correctly next time - you could even look at their web site to understand this. Their Verichip tag is only readable from a very short distance (measured in inches). The satellite "Panic" button is quite a bit larger - contains a battery and is in the form of a ankle bracelet (like for home arrest) or a cell phone.
   
   This Satellite device uses GSM/GPRS not RFID.
   
   This hype as gone on long enough. the story you printed it crap.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

7. 7. ChrisJones 05:26 PM 8/26/08

   Ok, sure, an outer space version of "life alert." I can see the commercial - "Help, I've been kidnapped and I can't get away!" Or a lo-jac for my cat. Regardless of the technology, I don't see it being useful in a kidnapping situation. Possibly even a liability. This'll just mean that big brother's implants will look like a goiter. Eeeew! Heh heh.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

8. 8. BQ 06:08 PM 8/26/08

   hey there space cadets ,oh ,sorry i meant Xaga,what a fresh aproach on a old SCAM. The things that the idle come up with to scare the idle rich

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

9. 9. PhilipPell 09:41 AM 8/27/08

   SciAm, do some research. Gen2 UHF passive tags commonly found on packages are readable at about 20 feet under ideal circumstances. Low frequency tags that could be read through human tissue and the kind that are implanted in animals can only be read at a few centimeters. Read one by satellite? Laughable. I have used a tag about the size of two quarters stacked up which can be read through human tissue at a distance of about 2 meters but that's exceptional performance AND the tag is active and powered by a watch battery. Until you can put a meter-wide dish and a high powered transmitter on a tag you're not going to be able to read it from low earth orbit.
   
   Larry G., your tinfoil hat is in the mail.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

10. 10. Atlon 09:02 PM 8/27/08

    I Think the only way some thing like that could work if its not always active the tag in person body else the captives could find it and as mentioned take it out in an verty painfull way .

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this