Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Stores and Retrieves Data

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a technology that uses electronic tags to automatically store and retrieve data. The tag or 'transponder' is slightly larger than a grain of rice and contains two parts, microchip circuit and antenna. Among other purposes, the circuit stores and processes information while the antenna receives and transmits signals.

RFID operates much like your cordless phone, cell phone or wireless LAN, although there is no power source in the chip itself. The antenna collects power from an incoming radio frequency signal and in response sends the requested information to the reader device. The chip has proved to be a viable tool for the business world but now the technology takes aim a little closer to home; your arm!

Most of the chip's initial uses are beneficial to businesses. For instance, RFID chips are commonly placed in merchandise products to prevent retail fraud. Chip technology is additionally used in infant tracking, document tracking, ticketing applications, media authentication, airline baggage tracking, credit cards and the list continues to grow.

RFID chipping has also become a useful tool for farmers to track livestock, and also store and retrieve medical information. Now it is practically routine for pet owners to have their animals tagged for the same reasons. It appears tracking animals using microchips was a mere test ground for the technology's biggest potential market place.

Like animals, people can have a chip implanted under the skin for medical and identification purposes. In 2004, the United States FDA made VeriChip the first and only approved company to provide RFID implants for humans. Shortly after, top federal employees in Mexico received Radio Frequency Identification chips in their arms in order to access a restricted government area. Alzheimer's Community Care in West Palm Beach has implanted VeriChip radio frequency identification chips in patients for the retrieval of medical information. Some financial institutions and elite clubs in Europe are using the chip for ID purposes.

Since 2006, US issued Passports have RFID tags and there are talks that they may be imbedded in National ID cards, US troops, children, prisoners, illegal immigrants, the homeless or just about anyone. VeriChip tags were even used to track cadavers in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. VeriChip CEO Scott Silverman suggests Veri-Chips could replace credit cards and predicts chipping trends will be similar to cell phones; soon everyone will have one.

At the time the chip was approved, 2008 Presidential candidate Tommy Thompson was head of the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the FDA. Within five months he left his job and was appointed to the VeriChip's board of directors. Besides this insider conflict, there are also important health and privacy risks with the chip. Some studies have found up to 10% of lab animals developed malignant tumors after receiving RFID implants. In addition, during an MRI electrical currents could be induced in an implant and cause severe burns to a patient. Above all, privacy may be the biggest area of concern.

RFID information can be read from multiple tags in seconds. Financial, medical and other personal information could be wirelessly obtained by anyone in possession of the device and you wouldn't even know. Ironically, the device claiming to secure identity information could be the biggest risk. Additionally micro-chipped soldiers could be tracked by the enemy using the technology against them. There are also kidnapping rings in Mexico who solely abduct people with chips, giving them greater financial and political leverage.

There are many good applications of RFID tags for businesses and people who want to keep tab on products, pets, or ill family members. However, until health and privacy problems are addressed, the future of the chip should remain a possibility and not a certainty. Even if these issues can be resolved (which is unlikely), you will always have those who view the chip as the prophesized mark of the wild beast predicted in the Bible, the book of this country's largest religion.