RFID Use In Humans

1
RFID Use In Humans

• Dionne Johnson and Jenna Seagraves
• COMP380
• 12/06/06

2
RFID

• -Radio Frequency Identification
• -The idea for implanting a chip in humans came
  from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to help
  identify firefighters if they were to become
  disfigured or trapped

3
RFID (contd)

• - implanted in fatty tissue of the arm
• - near rear of triceps
• - chip last at least 10 years
• - safe in MRI scans
• - no risk of allergic reactions
• - encased in non-reactive medical-grade glass
  coating
• - Cost 125, not including implantation
• - Passive vs. Active chips

4
VeriChip

• -First FDA-approved
• human implantable
• RFID device (2002)
• -about the size of a grain of rice
• - Read range is about 6 to 18 inches

• -responds with a unique 16 digit number
• -approximately 2000 implanted in humans worldwide

5
SECURITY ISSUES
6
PROS

• - ensures only authorized personnel enter into
  secure buildings
• - harder to replicate compared to social security
  cards
• - no current GPS capabilities
• - can not track in real time

• - chip contains no information, only a number
• - only authorized personnel access database
  where information is stored
• - consumers choose what information to include in
  the database

7
CONS

• -spychips
• -government is able to monitor someone's
  movement against their will
• -track and monitor both citizens and visitors
• -government could access information they cant
  legally obtain as of now

• -insecure
• -unencrypted
• -identity theft
• -lead to safety issues
• -more criminal activity
• -more kidnappings, attacks, or murders to
  obtain chip

8
MEDICAL ISSUES
9
PROS

• - access to medical information if patient can
  not respond
• - ensures doctors receive accurate and updated
  information

• - Could track patients in hospital and send
  alerts if they collapsed
• - When used with an active chip and an antenna

10
CONS

• -potential health risks
• -security issues
• -reliability issues
• -threat to medical confidentiality

11
Uses

• - Currently used in
• - Federal buildings in Mexico
• - Clubs in Barcelona, Spain
• - Prisons in the United States
• - Hospitals in the U.S.

12
Scenarios

• - A child is found roaming the streets and cannot
  give information on how to find home
• - Someone is badly injured and has no
  identification on them, how can you get in touch
  with family or retrieve their health information?
• - A power outage causes the medical database to
  crash and all your information is in the system,
  what do you do?
• - Someone is able to steal your RFID chip number,
  how can they be stopped from accessing your
  information?

13
More Things to Think About

• - Should there be a separate RFID chip for
  medical and security use?
• - Should the chips number match the National
  Identification Card number?