IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2017 - 18

opinion

Gary Retherford

sat staring at the
computer on Febru-
ary 6th, 2006, think-
ing about the press
release I was about
to send and the potential impact it
could have on the human race.
The human implantable micro-
chip, I thought, is about to make a
major leap forward in the conscious-
ness of the human mind and will be
talked about and debated at a whole
new level.
It started over a year earlier,
with Internet research. I was look-
ing for asset tracking and found a
new product involving implantable
microchips for security.

I

Human Microchipping,
Past, Present,
and ... Future?

Ohio, to be installed at a company
called CityWatcher.
CityWatcher was a small company
that had secured several new oppor-
tunities doing video surveillance for
small businesses, feeding that
video to the police. The com-
pany's startup was triggered
by the events of 9-11, and its
business was growing.
The human implantable microchip,
The owner of City Watcher
was having some security is-
I thought, is about to make a major
sues, and felt that a micro-
chipping solution might not
leap forward in the consciousness
only solve those issues, but
of the human mind.
would be in line with his
company's view of advanc-
ing technology.
I called the manufacturer, VeriCh-
Ultimately, there developed two
ip, and at my request, some design
reasons for this endeavor. One
features were applied, and a proto-
was to test the new implantable
type was sent to me in Cincinnati,
microchips, and the capability of
integrating them into CityWatcher's
existing security system, and the
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2017.2654282
other was to get societal reaction.
Date of publication: 6 March 2017

18

IEEE Technology and Society Magazine

The integration with existing secu-
rity systems was a success, but the
societal reaction was a bit over-
whelming [1].
While I stayed out the limelight
for the most part, many of City-
Watcher's employees conducted
radio and TV interviews over an
intense two-week period.
For nearly a year, from the time
of concept to press release, I came
to the realization that the human
implantable microchip was inevita-
ble. That year was just the moment
at which it would finally be pushed
onto the public stage.
Why me, and why now, I had no
idea, but with a press release from
my company, Six Sigma Security,
Inc., the time had arrived.
Once the initial impact was over,
Human Resource departments at
various companies began to look
at policies and legal issues related
to implantable microchips. Several
∕

march 2017



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