What are you willing to reveal...

... to strangers about yourself?

I've been aware for some time about the recent news of RFID chips - electronic devices the size of a grain of rice that are intended to be implanted under a person's skin for identifications purposes. What I didn't know regarded the recent passing of a bill by the United States congress that requires all states to participate in an program called RealID, which is a national database of persons living in the US with driver's licenses or state-issued IDs.

Seriously. Please take a few moments to look at the links I'm providing below. All are from mainstream news sources; no blogs, no "conspiracy theory" level sources; just the standard news sources that you might see on TV, or hear on the radio, or read in a newspaper, or see in a mainstream Internet news feed. Real News. No B.S.

Here is a WikiPedia article on the topic...

This makes it pretty clear-cut what the system is designed to do. And, on the surface, it looks like it could be a good thing. However, and I say this with the sternest possible pixels here, what does this set us up for in the future? And it's not even SECURE. And, more importantly, Do we REALLY want to trust our - pretty obviously - lackadaisical government with such sensitive PERSONAL INFORMATION, when they seem to be so PRONE to LOSING stuff?!?!?! And losing it who WHOM!?!?!?!

Excerpted from CNET.com article
What does that mean for me?
Starting three years from now, if you live or work in the United States, you'll need a federally approved ID card to travel on an airplane, open a bank account, collect Social Security payments, or take advantage of nearly any government service. Practically speaking, your driver's license likely will have to be reissued to meet federal standards. (Read entire article

A Google video about where this technology comes from

Read a Time magazine article about a national ID card

An article from privacy.org

An article from EPIC.org

An old article from DrudgeReport.com

Perhaps the most "radical" of the news sources, but... UnRealID.com

So, I implore you, whether you consider this "old news" or not, please take a moment and read this crap, understand it, and then REPOST it. I know, it's not some lame survey, and it's not promising that if you DON'T repost it that a ghost is going to murder you in your sleep, and it's not promising a MySpace visitor tracker, but it is important you and your friends and your neighbors and your family and complete strangers to you are INFORMED about what is going on. Information is power. Those who have the information, have the power. If you're comfortable with people who don't know knowing every shittin' thing about you, just move on and pretend that this doesn't matter. BUT! If you don't want to have to present your microchipped arm to buy groceries, if you don't want to be questioned and ordered to present your card whenever you take your kids to the park... pass this information along.

REMEMBER, this is supposedly a government Of The People, By The People, and FOR The People. If you have the INFORMATION about what's happening, and you Don't frickin' like it, then you can use the POWER of that INFORMATION to CHANGE it. Tell everyone you know.

That is all.