The Scoop: Human bar codes our next ‘progress’
When I buy groceries, I hand over a special bonus card that has a bar code. When I rent movies, I hand over a different card with a different bar code.
Even hospitals are making these supermarket-style bar codes standard operating equipment. Using a bar code that’s attached to a patient’s wrist, the bar code is scanned each time medication is given.
This Food and Drug Administration initiative is being touted as a way to ensure patients are given the right medicine at the right time. The bar code system will electronically check and automatically alert nurses if the medication will create a violent reaction to another drug already in the patient’s system.
My question is when will these bar codes eventually make their way from a wristband to the human body itself? How many years is it going to take before bar-code style chips packed with personal information are regularly imbedded in our bodies?
It may sound crazy, but I say give it another 15 years and it will become common practice. Several companies, most notably Applied Digital Solutions in Palm Beach, Fla., already have this “human bar code” technology in place, but the cost is currently prohibitive to imbed the chip in a large portion of the population.
But as with any technology, from computers to digital cameras, the cost will plummet. When it does, look for the human bar code to find its way into everyday use.
If it seems far-fetched, just think about cell phones. Ten years ago, who would have predicted each and every one of us would need to walk around with a personal phone on our hip.
Or just think about computers. In 1977, when asked about possible uses for his computer technology, Bill Gates said it would be absurd for people to consider putting such equipment in their homes.
So as “absurd” as we might think the idea of implanting chips is today, just give it a few years. Instead of whipping out a credit card to pay for a new pair of jeans, we might just be handing over our wrist. Instead of asking for our license and registration, police officers will simply ask to see our bar code.
At Alien Technology in Morgan Hills, Calif., the big push is to have these implanted chips contain GPS technology. The company says this far-reaching power would enable it to easily locate lost children and other missing persons.
Think of the burden this could ease off the shoulders of law enforcement officials. Escaped jail inmates could forget about hiding under beds. It wouldn’t do much good. People wanted for crimes, or for questioning, wouldn’t be such a challenge to track down.
Folks want to have cell phones so they can be reached every waking moment. Just think of this as one step further – a cell phone you can’t turn off.
The flip side is that having human bar codes does seem eerie, at least at this point. And when you start talking about global-satellite tracking, I wonder about privacy issues. Do we want to hand over the right to have our every move monitored with these imbedded chips?
The human bar codes will be like every new piece of technology. When it locates a missing child in the woods, it will be praised as life-saving. When hackers find a way to use information on the chips for criminal purposes, the system will be criticized for its imperfections.
The only thing I can say for sure about this human bar code technology is we better get ready. Here it comes.
(James Clark is editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].)