The technology used in RFID has been around since the early 1920s. Similar technology, such as the IFF transponder invented by the United Kingdom in 1939, was routinely used by the allies in World War II to identify aircraft as friend or foe. Transponders are still used by military and commercial aircraft to this day.

RFID tags come in three general varieties:- passive, active, or semi-passive (also known as battery-assisted). Passive tags require no internal power source, thus being pure passive devices (they are only active when a reader is nearby to power them), whereas semi-passive and active tags require a power source, usually a small battery.

There are three different kinds of RFID tags based on their attachment with identified objects, attachable, implantable and insertion tags . In addition to these conventional RFID tags, Eastman Kodak Company has filed two patent applications for monitoring ingestion of medicine based on a digestible RFID tag.

RFID tags have various use:

• Passports
• Transport payment detectors
• Product tracking
• Animal tracking
• Inventory control
• Human implant

In today's society the case is rapidly being made for human implants due to child abductions and key political kidnappings. Also, the tracking of prison inmates and parolees are on the list of usages. In the casinos the already have face and eye recognition software that scans all traffic for people who were black listed. The only place where a camera can't be placed yet are the restrooms.

So is the line being crossed by implanting RFID devices in humans or are we well pass that point. Lets see.

One problem that exists is RFID standardization. The frequencies used for RFID in the USA are currently incompatible with those of Europe or Japan. Furthermore, no emerging standard has yet become as universal as thebar-code. Another concern surrounding the RFID technology is the illicit tracking. Tags which are world-readable pose a risk to both personal location privacy and corporate/military security. Further concerns are:

Privacy - concerns about traceability, spending habits, financial information, medical data, how many sodas you drink the possibilities are endless.

Population Tracking - where you vacation, how long you sleep, shopping habits, no secret getaways

Biblical Prophecy - mark of the beast, 666, eternal damnation, A passage in Revelation describes a vision in which "a foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image."

The U.S. FDA approved the first RFID chips implanted into humans in October 2004. The FDA warns of the following potential complications from implanting RFID chips into humans:

• Adverse tissue reaction

• Migration of the implanted transponder

• Failure of implanted transponder

• Electrical hazards

• Possible incompatibility with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

Now we have the flip side of RFID tagging and were just in the infancy stages of this technology. The main objective for using RFID chips seems to focus around manufacturing, supply chain management. The market for RFID is only growing, but as with all things humans are creative and devilish in thought, so we will see soon enough how far over the line they will go.Then it will be your turn to decide to "Chip or not to Chip".