Observations on civil liberties
The Baja Beach Club, Barcelona. A VIP tiptoes past the nightclub queue, gives the doorman a quick wave of his hand, and slips inside. He makes straight for the bar, gestures towards the barman, and a choice cocktail is thrust into his hand.
It may all sound very friendly, but it is actually just part of the club's latest high-tech promotion. VIP members can have a tiny microchip, electronically linked to their credit account at the nightclub, implanted under their skin. A quick scan of the chip under a portable reader charges food or drink to the account, and allows access to the VIP lounge. To the average Baja Beach Club regular, it's a pretty neat invention.
Could it have more sinister uses? Keith Bolton, president of the chip's manufacturer, VeriChip, hopes it will one day be used as a global identity system. Civil liberties groups - already worried about national ID cards - are likely to go berserk. After all, you would not even have the option of leaving your ID at home, because it would be part of your body.
VeriChip does not seem to care much for such issues, but it has a great eye for marketing. Hip young clubbers, already swathed in tattoos and piercings, are happy to undergo one more body modification - especially if it allows them to leave their wallets at home. Suddenly, everyone wants to be chipped, entirely unaware of the future implications of the digital implants. VeriChip can swell its user-base with bright young things and then neatly sidestep into the ID market.
In the US, the north-eastern division of the Association of International Gospel Assemblies has even interpreted this technology as one sign of the impending "End Times". It refers to Revelation 13:16: "And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand." Perhaps the warning should be heeded. The VeriChip is a trendy clubbing accessory for now. If it acquires more repressive uses, the Baja Beach clubbers might well find themselves cursed with the mark of the beast.
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