Some commentary from Sean Loving, SkyeTek Founder:

Now there’s a bad idea. When I first heard about the Baja Beach Club application I loved it, but I thought “Oh boy, this is going to freak out lots of people”. Then the Mexican judges started chipping themselves, then came the FDA approval for VeriChip, and recently the chipping of some US officials. I say go ahead and chip yourself if you want - but don’t even think about mandating implants on me, because I promise to take up arms against that kind of nonsense. In my opinion the worst thing about implanting humans with RFID is how it gives fearful people something more to worry about. Indeed, using RFID to track humans really touches a nerve, doesn’t it? For example I recently heard that RFID helped prevent an infant from being abducted from a North Carolina hospital. My first thought was “Hooray RFID”. But after a little research I learned it was the parents that were attempting to “abduct” their own child. Then I thought “Oh no, RFID has now been used to keep a child from its parents”. Alas, it’s no surprise that all these new uses of RFID are bringing such questions and controversy to the spotlight in the public debate over RFID.

Waving your phone over the cash register to pay for your groceries will happen. Uptaking a new song into your iPod by scanning an RFID tag will happen. Having your oven receive cooking instructions from an RFID tag in the food packaging will happen. But although implanting RFID in humans is unfortunately already happening, I am not concerned that this is a sign of Armageddon. As a member of the world society, I do agree completely that we should not allow ourselves to trick ourselves into fulfilling the prophecy of Revelation 13:16-18, as some of the anti-RFID Christians warn. And although Revelation, like all good prophecies, has deep meaning and wisdom, fear not people of Earth because RFID is not the mark of the beast. For soon enough there will be DNA scanners that can access the unique code that God put into each of us. And so this debate will shift again, this time with new Bible verses as supporting evidence.

No, I am not afraid of the end of the world, but I am concerned that more fear than good will come from the reckless use of RFID. In my opinion RFID scanners, like DNA scanners or the Internet or any technology, should be used for the good of people. So I want to shift the debate away from how we can outlaw RFID, to a more pragmatic debate on how we can best utilize this simple but powerful technology. The SkyeTek inbox is open for suggestions. As an industry leader, SkyeTek is unique among other RFID technology providers because we focus on humane, positive uses of RFID, intentionally attempting to avoid and prevent the misuse of the technology. Beyond the mundane applications like manufacturing and inventory control, some of my favorites so far have been ScripTalk the talking Rx pill bottle reader for the blind, the various children’s museums like EdVenture and the Exploratorium and Wiley’s Woods, and the DR-1000 that was designed to assist caregivers in eliminating mistakes at the hospital bedside.