Virginia Blackburn

AT FIRST glance, I thought it was a joke. Companies are in all seriousness considering microchipping their employees, in much the same way you would a pet. Surely this is the stuff of science fiction, I thought, but no, it is true. Some employers are genuinely considering implants in staff, in order to boost security and stop unauthorised people from accessing sensitive material. Dear lord. Where will this all end?

We are already the most spied upon people in history, with CCTV cameras everywhere, the GPS in our phones monitoring us, credit card usage tracking us and all the rest. But this? The founder of the Swedish company that’s offering it, Biohax (and what an ominous name that is), says that if the Government was demanding it, people would be right to be wary, but since this is an offer for corporations there’s no need to be alarmed.

Oh yeah? I am as lawabiding a person as anyone, but the thought that I had something placed within my person that meant my presence could be tracked at all times fills me with horror. We are constantly being told about the Big Brother society, but even Orwell’s novel didn’t go as far as that.

And while this may be a service for businesses and not governments, you can bet your bottom dollar it wouldn’t be long before the powers that be got in on the act.

Courts could demand access to your microchip to test alibis and make sure you were where you said you were. It could also be used to see if you were earning cash on the side. In fact, the horrible potential uses of this thing are incalculable. We still have some vestige of freedom, to say