1. Do you perceive any significant differences in the concept of RFID badges versus that of Digital Angels VeriChip?
The Digital Angel’s VeriChip is placed beneath your skin to monitor the following: identifying you, tracking you, and monitoring your health. The system is powered by body heat. There is potential that it will be used for monitoring chronically ill patients, tracking livestock to ensure food quality, tracking people that are at risk of kidnapping, enforcing the terms of parole, and identifying people for security and e commerce applications. The information from the chip is relayed either to another GPS signal or to a wireless communications signal to a remote monitoring system. The only way the chip would be activated would be by controlling authority. Once the VeriChip is in your body you can make payments online using the chip. By having a MSN or AOL account you can set up a profile, which could help when buying things online. RFID badges are given to students grades K-12 and located on the badge is the RFID technology. The tag is only activated when taking attendance. There is a reader device located on the door and once a child enters the room they are marked present for that day. It can also be used as a safety measure to track exactly where on campus a student is. One main difference is that the VeriChip is placed under your skin and the person with it can’t remove it. The RFID badge is just a tag that has the technology inside it. It is not placed inside your body and you can remove it at anytime. The RFID badge isn’t powered by body heat it is turned on when children walk through the readers located on the doors in schools. The RFID badge is only activated when taking attendance or when they need to track a student on campus. The VeriChip can be tracked at anytime by a controlling authority.
2. Address the marketing implications and opportunities for Digital Angel.
3. Who is Big Brother?