Oct 13, 2004This article was originally published by RFID Update.
October 13, 2004—VeriChip technology, in which an RFID tag encoded with personal information is implanted under its user's skin, won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration yesterday as a patient identification mechanism in healthcare situations. Such official validation marks a moment of vindication for the heretofore controversial product. Derided by privacy advocates as Orwellian and Seventh-day Adventists as the Mark of the Beast, VeriChip has nonetheless continued to grab headlines and gain traction in the marketplace: in July, Mexico's attorney general announced that he and his staff had accepted the chip to enhance authentication, and in Barcelona, a popular discotheque incents club-goers to "get chipped" in order to access its VIP lounge and make cashless purchases. Predictably, the stock of VeriChip-maker Applied Digital Solutions soared on the news.
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