Bruce Sterling's
Beyond the Beyond notes that "for this app [tracking the bodies of hurricane victims with RFID tags], arphids actually MAKE SENSE!" That said,
VeriChip's two-pronged PR blitz -- half disaster relief, half Branson-like CEO stunting -- leaves a bad taste in our mouths. Expect RFID makers to increase their profiles with each new disaster as they jockey for market share.
A company that makes ID chips for humans said Friday it has started “chipping” corpses in the Katrina-ravaged region of Mississippi to help expedite the identification process. Florida-based VeriChip said it has already implanted radio frequency identification (RFID) tags into 100 corpses in the state for the Mississippi State Department of Health.
...
Using RFID tags to ID corpses is the company’s latest move in the growing field of RFID, which is expected to one day replace barcode technology. The RFID market, which commonly tracks goods in a supply chain and streamlines factories, is estimated to become a multibillion-dollar industry over the next five years. (Red Herring)
Meanwhile, back in VeriChip's hometown...
To help publicize a company that makes microchips that can be implanted in humans for identification purposes, a prominent San Francisco banker got “chipped” Monday so that his living will is just a scan away if he ever becomes seriously ill.
Before some 40 investors and entrepreneurs in San Francisco, John Merriman, chairman and CEO of investment firm Merriman Curhan Ford & Co., was injected with a rice-sized radio frequency identification (RFID) tag in his upper arm.
Mr. Merriman said he got “chipped” partly to support Florida-based VeriChip, saying he was “taking one for the team.” He also said he wanted the chip to enable swift access to his living will information should he became disabled.
The chip was an answer to his “increasing paranoia of having the specific provisions in his living will executed” in a worst case scenario, said Mr. Merriman, who does not have any serious medical conditions. (Red Herring)
