The "Mark of the Beast?" ======================== In regards to conceivable future human bio-electrical implants, you may wish to research the claims of a Mr. Dannion Brinkley, a man who was struck by lightning in 1975 and described a portion of his subsequent OBE/NDE experience as follows: - - - - - "...The beings of light came at me one at a time. As each one approached, a box the size of a videotape came from it's chest and zoomed right at my face. The first time this happened I flinched, thinking I was going to be hit. But a moment before the impact, the box opened to reveal what appeared to be a tiny television picture of a world event that was yet to happen. As I watched, I felt myself drawn into the picture, where I was able to live the event. This happened twelve times, and twelve times I stood in the midst of many events that would shake the world in the future...Much later, when I returned to life, I wrote down 117 events that I witnessed in the boxes. For three years nothing happened. Then in 1978, events that I had seen in the boxes began to come true. In the eighteen years since I died and went to this place, ninety-five of these events have taken place" His description of "Box 12" follows: "Box Twelve: Technology and Virus. The eleventh box was gone and I was into the twelfth box. It's visions addressed an important event in the distant future, the decade of the nineties (remember, this was 1975), when many of the great changes would take place. "In this box I watched as a biological engineer from the Middle East found a way to alter DNA and create a biological virus that would be used in the manufacture of computer chips. This discovery allowed for huge strides in science and technology. Japan, China and other countries of the Pacific Rim experienced boom times as a result of this discovery and became powers of incredible magnitude. Computer chips produced from this process found their way into virtually every form of technology, from cars and airplanes to vacuum cleaners and blenders. "Before the turn of the century, this man was among the richest in the world, so rich that he had a stranglehold on the world economy. Still, the world welcomed him, since the computer chips he had designed somehow put the world on an even keel. "Gradually he succumbed to his own power. He began to think of himself as a deity and insisted on greater control of the world. With that extra control, he began to rule the world. "His method of rule was unique. Everyone in the world was mandated by law to have one of his computer chips inserted underneath his or her skin. The chip contained all of an individual's personal information. If a government agency wanted to know something, all it had to do was scan your chip with a special device. By doing so it could discover everything about you, from where you worked and lived to your medical records and even what kind of illnesses you might get in the future. "There was an even more sinister side to this chip. A person's lifetime could be limited by programming this chip to dissolve and kill him with the viral substance it was made from. Lifetimes were controlled like this to avoid the cost that growing old places on the government. It was also used as a means of eliminating people with cronic illnesses that put a drain on the medical system. "People who refused to have chips implanted in their bodies roamed as outcasts. They could not be employed and were denied government services. - - - - - I suppose, like all these sorts of predictions, that time will tell. It does remind me, however, of a very similar, albeit far less technical account of a disturbingly identical scenario recorded by an elderly gentleman imprisoned on the isle of Patmos some couple millenia ago. ----------------------- February 1996 -- Congress Poised To Mandate Government Registration and Tracking of All Americans Imagine an America in which every citizen is required to carry a biometrically-encoded identification card as a precondition for conducting business. Imagine having your retina scanned every time you need to prove your identification. Imagine carrying a card containing your entire medical, academic, social, and financial history. Now, imagine that bureaucrats, police officers, and social workers have access under certain circumstances to the information on your card. Finally, imagine an America in which it is illegal to seek any employment without approval from the United States government. This future may be more real than many Americans would like to think if Congressional lawmakers are allowed to proceed with their most recent attempt at monitoring the private lives of American citizens. Enter S. 269, the latest attempt by Congress to mandate a computer-driven, biometrically-verifiable national identification system. If enacted into law, S. 269 would require the most comprehensive registration and tracking of American citizens by the federal government in history. Some experts have speculated that once the system envisioned by S.269 is in place, the scope of the identity card could be expanded to include information of a highly personal nature, such as credit and spending history and medical, educational, and social records. On February 29, 1996, the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to begin deliberation on S. 269, The Immigration Reform Act of 1996. The bill has already passed the Immigration Subcommittee and is being promoted by Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). In the House, Republican Congressman Lamar Smith of Texas is the key sponsor of a similar bill, H.R.2202, The Immigration in the National Interest Act. Although the House bill is not as extreme in its proposals as the Senate version, it still contains provisions which should be viewed as objectionable by family privacy advocates. H.R.2202 is scheduled for a final floor vote on March 18. The Clinton Administration is a strong proponent of both bills. Why would Congress and the Clinton Administration consider such a plan? Some Americans believe that America is in the midst of an illegal immigration crisis. Politicians want to show their constituents that they are taking strong action against illegal immigration. These politicians argue that the best way to control illegal immigration is to give the government the right to approve all employee hiring in America. By using advanced technology to register, track and store information on every citizen, they argue, it will be easy to spot illegal immigrants. If At First You Don't Succeed... Similar (but unsuccessful) proposals to create a national registry and tracking system were advanced in the early 1980's by a powerful array of government agencies who brushed aside any concerns about personal privacy. Agencies like the Internal Revenue Service, the State Department, and the Central Intelligence Agency, each for their own unique reasons, craved a law which would require every American to carry a national identity card. One attempt to register and track Americans came close to being endorsed by the Reagan cabinet in July 1981, but it was stopped when President Reagan personally vetoed the idea on the grounds that it was a massive invasion of privacy. In 1993, under the guise of an immunization bill, Congress attempted to register and track every American from birth, but the measure was defanged of its dangerous provisions after tens of thousands of calls and letters poured into Washington D.C. from parents around the country asking Congress to respect their family privacy and individual liberties. Perhaps the most famous attempt to create a national registry came in 1994 as part of the Clinton Administration's ill-fated Health Security Act. Each time these proposals have been mounted, pro-family forces have rallied to defeat them. Smart Cards, Retina Scans, Voice Patterns and the Coming Biometric Privacy Invasion Biometrics is the science of measuring unique physiological or behavioral characteristics. In recent years, the technology which drives this science has evolved well beyond fingerprinting and dental records. In fact, the technology is available to identify people by the length of their fingers, the pattern of their retinas, the sound of their voices, and the smell of their skin. Senate lawmakers intend to incorporate advanced forms of this technology as part of the most comprehensive identification and information gathering program in history. On May 10, 1995, the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration met for a hearing entitled, "Verification of Applicant Identity for the Purposes of Employment and Public Assistance." The hearing was chaired by Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY) and was attended by Senators Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Jon Kyl (R-AZ). Robert Rasor, from the Financial Crimes Division of the Secret Service, provided an explanation to the Subcommittee of the emerging "biometric" technologies' role in personal identification: "The use of biometrics is the means by which an individual may be conclusively identified. There are two types of biometric identifiers: physical and behavioral characteristics. Physiological biometrics include facial features, hand geometry, retinal and iris patterns, DNA, and fingerprints. Behavioral characteristics include voice characteristics and signature analysis." Although the language of S. 269 does not mandate which specific biometric technique will be used to register, track and identify every American, it clearly calls for the use of biometrics (Section 115(7)). Senator Dianne Feinstein, an original drafter of the proposal, recently explained in a Capitol Hill magazine that it is her intention to see Congress immediately implement a national identity system where every American is required to carry a card with a "magnetic strip on which the bearer's unique voice, retina pattern, or fingerprint is digitally encoded." "Fifteen years ago, they would have torn the building down." Despite the fact that this bill could dramatically increase the role of the federal government in the private lives of Americans, the proposal has received relatively little media attention. Senate sponsors seem to be pleased by the opportunity to act covertly. During his closing remarks following the last panel of the May 10 subcommittee meeting, Senator Simpson mused on the relative lack of media attention given the hearings and the overlap between a national ID card and President Clinton's proposal for a "Health Security Card" two years ago: "There is much to do here, but I was just saying to Ted [Kennedy] before he left, a hearing like this fifteen years ago, they would have torn the building down. And here we are today just a bunch of us, kind of sitting around and no media, no nothing. This is fine with me. I get tired of them on this issue." Key Problems With The Bill Congressional attempts to include privacy safeguards in the language offer little hope or consolation. Agencies like the IRS and the Social Security Administration (SSA) have recently been subject to criticism for their lack of control over employees who, in violation of the privacy safeguards, were opening confidential files and making the information available to outsiders. Among other things, the bill establishes: * That the federal government create a national database containing information on all Americans and immigrants eligible to work in this country (S. 269, Sec. 111). * That all Americans may be required to obtain a national identification device, like an ID card (S. 269, Sec. 111(b)). * Beginning in 1999, all employers must receive authorization from the national computer database before hiring any new employee this does not just apply to immigrants. For each new employee, the company would be required to transmit his name and identification number via modem and then wait for the national database to respond with an authorization code. If the person's name is not in the database, he can not work (S. 269, Sec. 111). * All American children must register with the SSA by age sixteen. When they register, they must provide the agency with a "finger- print or other biometric data." The agency would place the fingerprint "or other biometric data" on the child's birth certificate, hoping to make the birth certificate more fraud- resistant (S. 269, Sec. 116(7)). * In violation of the Tenth Amendment, the Senate bill would create federalized rules pertaining to the creation of driver's licenses, and would unconstitutionally mandate that 1) social security numbers be attached to the license; and that 2) all drivers licenses "shall contain a fingerprint or other biometric data." (S. 269, Sec. 116(b)). A National Database Would Be a Nightmare! Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX) called the national computer registry and move toward a national identity card, "an abomination and wholly at odds with the American tradition of individual freedom." Senator Spencer Abraham (R-MI) recently joined Armey in signing a letter denouncing the tracking system. Jack Kemp wrote in the New York Times, "An anti-privacy, anti- business and anti-American approach is no way to run immigration policy." These bills would create an unprecedented increase in the government's ability to collect information. For the first time: * The government would have a comprehensive registry of every American name, date of birth, place of birth, mother's maiden name, Social Security number, gender, race, and other information. Personal information that is now scattered in many different places would be consolidated in one database, controlled by a single federal agency. * Personal information would be accessible to local agencies and anyone who claims to be an employer. * The government would have to grant approval before a company enters into private employment contract with a private citizen. The Legislation Is Likely To Pass Unless Significant Opposition Develops Soon Under the current political climate, the bill is likely to be enacted into law. Most Senators do not even realize that the bill would create a national, computer-linked registry and tracking system driven by biometric technology. Those who do understand have not properly evaluated the tremendous threat to individual liberties and family privacy posed by the measure. The House Version In its current form, H.R.2202 calls for pilot programs to test the idea of an computer-linked verification system. It calls for new and unprecedented databases and data sharing and computer link-ups between state and federal agencies, thus expanding the government's ability to monitor private citizens. Like S. 269, it would, for the first time, require private employers to receive approval from a federal computer database before entering into private employment contracts with individuals. Opposition To The Bills More than fifty influential organizations representing groups on both the right and left of the political spectrum have joined together in an effort to defeat these bills. A number of Representatives and Senators have responded favorably to their concerns. Two of them, Senators Spence Abraham (R-MI) and Rus Feingold (D-WI) have joined together to offer amendments to delete all references to registries, ID cards, or employment verification programs from the Senate bill. Action Is Urgently Needed The registry and tracking system currently before Congress must be defeated. Now is the time to write and call urging your lawmakers on Capitol Hill to oppose any national registry, tracking and identification system. Tell them that the threat to individual liberty and family privacy far outweigh any potential benefits that such a system might provide in curbing illegal immigration. If your senator is a member of the Judiciary Committee urge him to support the Abraham/Feingold Amendment. Tell them that there are acceptable solutions to America's illegal immigration problem but giving the government the power to register and track its citizens is not one of them. [Note: S. 269 may be officially redubbed S. 1394.] - - - - - Maimi, 5/7/96 -- Police hand out 5000 DNA ID kits to kids so if their bodies are recovered they can be identified, with the option of registering their DNA in a central database - - - - - Chicago Trib, 5/7/96: IN FUTURE, TINY CHIP MAY GET UNDER SKIN CRITICS ARGUE DEVICE INVITES BIG BROTHER A tiny chip implanted inside the human body to send and receive radio messages, long a popular delusion among paranoids, is likely to be marketed as a consumer item early in the next century. Several technologies already available or under development will enable electronics firms to make implantable ID locators, say futurists, and our yearning for convenience and security makes them almost irresistible to marketers. "This is currently very hot," said Edward Cornish, president of the World Future Society, based in Bethesda, Md. "The field is developing because the technology is becoming available to do it." He added: "Its appeal will depend on what features are offered and the price. I'm sure a large number of people would want such products." Inevitably, implantable radio locators conjure up visions of Big Brother and unscrupulous scientists abusing such technology to control the masses. But the researchers laying the foundations for this technology see their work as helping humankind, not subverting privacy. They seek to aid people using wireless phones to summon emergency help, to track soldiers who become lost on maneuvers and to enable people to get along without carrying cash by automatically crediting an account. Animal advocates already urge pet owners to have tiny identification chips implanted in their dogs and cats so if they are lost, shelters can identify them through a national computerized database. The notion of using implantable chips to control humans isn't entirely absent, even in these early stages of the technology's development. Cornish noted that authorities have experimented for years with fitting convicts with electronic monitors to allow them to leave jails for limited reasons, such as work release. "The problem is that monitors worn outside the body can be tampered with," Cornish said. "Implanted locators would be more difficult to get at. You might see this used as a condition for parole." Several systems already are in place with the potential to locate people using radio signals. The most obvious, called GPS, for global positioning satellites, was launched by the military years ago and has become available for civilian applications. It uses satellites to map a person's position with great precision. Some automobiles come equipped with GPS gadgets that can give drivers their location, and boaters use similar technology. Researchers want to combine such locators with equipment that monitors a person's health. Engineers in Salt Lake City have designed a device intended to determine whether someone wearing it is becoming too cold or too hot, a sign of exposure. "We want to highlight people who need attention early, when there is still time to get to them with help," said Peter Kind, a senior vice president at Sarcos Research Corp., which has developed a prototype GPS-based device that will be ready for field tests this year. Sarcos' initial target is the military. The body monitors and locators could transmit information about soldiers to a central location to reduce the risks while troops are on maneuvers. Civilian markets might include ill people who usually would be restricted to nursing environments, Kind said. "This could help save costs, letting people who only need observation be released earlier from the hospital without risking their health," he said. Right now, the prototype equipment is worn on a belt, but the goal is to miniaturize it into a chip. The monitors could be worn in the area of the ear canal or elsewhere in or on the body. Another means to track people relies upon the existing network of cellular-phone transmitters. The cellular industry and emergency-response officials have proposed standards to the Federal Communications Commission that would enable police, fire and ambulance dispatchers to find people who dial 911 from wireless phones. At present, nearly one-quarter of the 911 emergency calls made in the U.S. come from wireless phones, and half the time the callers don't know their location, posing a major problem for emergency personnel. Developing computer systems to track locations of so many calls is a daunting task, but it is consistent with the phone industry's goal of one day assigning phone numbers to human beings, rather than to equipment. Once the phone network becomes sophisticated enough to do this, it will smooth the way for widespread monitoring of people's whereabouts. Companies already market pagers for children so parents can keep in touch when youngsters are away from home. Adding the ability to pinpoint location at any time is a natural extension; keeping track of the child through a chip implanted under the skin may be another. "People accept that increased communications makes life more convenient at the same time that it means there's no hiding place anymore," said Bernard Beck, a Northwestern University sociologist. "If I have a universal ID implanted, I can cash a check anywhere in the world. There's no worry about credit cards being stolen. These are attractive matters." Although older people might recoil at the notion of sticking gizmos inside themselves, younger ones tend to like the idea, Beck said. "In the last generation there's been a radical change about surgery and altering your body. The resistance to having tattoos and wearing body rings is dropping. Altering your appearance through surgery is no longer a cause for amazement." Problems may arise when some people decide that their implant makes them itch or when it malfunctions and doesn't send out a strong enough radio signal to be received. Beck sees another potential problem: "You'll see people ripping off implants, counterfeiting them, subverting the technology just as they've done to past technologies." The main problem, most scholars agree, will be the tradeoff between lost privacy and enhanced convenience. "It's common in a certain genre of science fiction for people to walk into a place, pick up any item they like and walk out with it, not having to pay because their action automatically generates a debit to their account," said Dan Polsby, a Northwestern University law professor. "That would make for a very open society," Polsby said. Implanting tracers in criminals could reduce incarceration because it would allow them to be tracked at all times. And, he added, people wearing locators would be deterred from committing crimes because of the likelihood they would be caught. But the potential loss of privacy is a huge issue. Everyone likes to drop off the screen for an hour or so now and then. "I don't know that we've wrapped our minds around being accountable minute-by-minute. The legal implications of who owns this information are major," Polsby said. "It's one thing to have my hospital monitoring my heartbeat for fibrillation, but it's an entirely different matter to have the government monitoring my whereabouts." Although potential problems are huge, locator ID chips may be inevitable, said Cornish of the World Future Society. Just as many people now allow supermarket chains to keep computerized records of their individual purchases in return for price discounts, many will embrace the chips for the security and convenience they offer, Cornish said. "We all want to walk down the street feeling safe," he said. "This technology offers that promise along with the dilemma of lost privacy." Cornish believes, at least initially, that such chips would be voluntary. But he acknowledges that "things that are voluntary today have a way of becoming compulsory tomorrow. "I was in London recently on a day when everyone on the street was wearing a red poppy. I felt conspicuous without one. I wanted one. As these chips are introduced, people will begin to assume you are locatable. It will become an issue if you aren't," he said. Cornish said he sees a similar attitude already regarding e-mail addresses and pagers. "If you tell people you don't have an e- mail address, they ask, `How can we contact you?' Some employers now require staff to wear pagers, to be locatable. Someday, they may require chips." - - - - > Cpl. John C. Mayfield Ill, 21 and Cpl. Joseph Viacovsky, 25, > fear the 'genetic dogtags' could be used against them in the > futrue, though they haven't said precisely how. Anne replies; I have just talked to my son, who is a Marine, and he said he has been ordered to give DNA this Monday. He is having a hard time deciding what to do about it. He has read literature that accuses the military of using the DNA for cloning, growing body parts on animals. They suppossedly have grown ears, fingers, etc. and plan to work on limbs next, and to try to design the perfect human being-- by programming the genes. He said they have also been told they will also undergo IQ tests as part of this program, but not until later. The 'genetic dogtags' excuse for setting up and using the DNA pool to identify body remains is BOGUS. My son said he HAS ALREADY BEEN IMPLANTED WITH A BIO/COMPUTER CHIP FOR THAT PURPOSE. Finally, and here's the clincher, he said that the rumor is that they are going to start doing genetic experiments using the Marine DNA bank and the alien DNA being stored at hanger 51 (or52?) I was at a loss as to what to tell him, but if they take his DNA they are also taking mine! I read him your article, but he said if he is court martialed, he will never have any chance to get another job. Anne [Annems19@aol.com] - - - -