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A great report has just been released by Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering - CASPIAN. It's 47 pages of frequently asked questions along with detailed, well researched responses to each.

From their press release:

The report reveals how news outlets like Time Magazine, Business Week, and the RFID Journal were used as unwitting pawns in a VeriChip scheme to spread misinformation about the cancer studies. Since research linking the product to cancer first surfaced last year, each of these publications has repeated misstatements from VeriChip company executives, in many cases printing the inaccurate statements verbatim and unchallenged.

Good thing non-profit companies are watching or else this sort of skulduggery would go unnoticed.

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Caspian just released a paper documenting the research showing the causal link between RFID implants and cancer in lab animals. The reason they issued this report is because of the recent news press about the issue. They wrote and issued this report because "a lot of misinformation about the cancer research has circulated since [the original cancer research] was published". Damage control by Verichip perhaps?

In almost all cases, the malignant tumors, typically sarcomas, arose at the site of the implants and grew to surround and fully encase the devices.

That's not subtle is it? Neither is this:

Either VeriChip and the makers of HomeAgain actually don't understand the difference between a benign fibroma and a malignant fibrosarcoma," noted Dr. Albrecht, "or they're deliberately lying to the public. Either way, it's clear they can't be trusted. We hope our new report will set the record straight.

Check out the "Recent Industry Misstatements about Implant-Cancer Research" section near the bottom of the page for specific examples of lies/ignorance told by chip makers and CASPIAN's factual rebuttals.

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CASPIAN warns that Verichip, the ones who have brought the human-implant RFID to the market had to publish a report of risks associated with the technology to satisfy the Securities and Exchanges Commission before they could IPO. In almost 20 pages of risks (holly clap!) they still neglected to mention that their RFID chips can be cloned… easily. So much for their claim to "tighten security in facilities like nuclear power plants".

"Potential investors should be told how a hacker can simply walk by a chipped person and clone his or her VeriChip signal, a threatdemonstrated by security researcher Jonathan Westhues months ago," says McIntyre, who is a former federal bank examiner.

And most creepily:

The VeriChip implant is a glass encapsulated RFID tag that is injected into the flesh to uniquely number and identify individuals. The tag can be read by radio waves from a few inches away. The highly controversial device is being marketed as a way to access secure areas, link to medical records, and serve as a payment instrument when associated with a credit card or pre-paid account.

So you get to be tagged like an animal with something you can't get rid of without surgury, and because your credit card information is in it, all someone has to do to steal your identity is stand near you for a few seconds. Wonderful.

Let's be clear about this: Human implantation of RFID is the most dangerous development in technology ever created. I really need to write an article about this sometime…

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Katherine Albrecht, the world's leading RFID privacy expert and co-author of the book Spychips - How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID writes:

Former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson is considering a run for president in 2008…

As head of Health of Health and Human Services, Thompson oversaw the scandal-ridden FDA when it approved the VeriChip as a medical device. Shortly after leaving his cabinet post, he joined the board of the VeriChip Corporation and wasted no time in using his clout to promote the company's glass encapsulated RFID tags.

These tags are injected into human flesh to uniquely number and identify people. He also suggested implanting military personnel with the chips to replace dog tags.

Thompson has an option on more than 150,000 shares of VeriChip stock. Right now those options aren't worth much. Security flaws and public squeamishness have hurt the company's sales, resulting in losses of millions of dollars.

Even if he remains chip-free as we hope, the American people should still be wary of him.