Mexico suffers high rates of kidnapping. According to the
country's National Foundation for the Investigation of Lost and
Kidnapped Children, 133,000 Mexican children disappeared over the
last five years for reasons ranging from family problems to illegal
organ trafficking. Around 1,000 of these children are thought to be
victims of kidnapping.
The sole distributor of the VeriChip within Mexico, Solusat, has
signed a co-operation agreement with the Foundation. A VeriKid
programme is to be launched, offering a secure emergency
identification system for lost, missing and kidnapped children.
According to ADS, the VeriChip is about the size of a grain of
rice, and is the world's first "subdermal, radio frequency
identification (RFID) microchip".
An RFID tag comprises a microchip and a tiny antenna that
transmits the data from the chip to a reader. The reader is
activated whenever the antenna comes into range and the data can be
used to trigger an event – such as raising an alarm. Usually the
range is no more than a few feet.
To work successfully, scanners will have to be located
throughout the search area. Accordingly, Solusat and the Foundation
are to work together, initially to distribute scanners to police
stations and hospitals. ADS hopes to follow this with a roll-out to
supermarkets, airports and bus stations.
There are obvious privacy concerns about chipping children. But
the likely effectiveness of the technology is also questionable. In
2000, the number of children in Mexico was estimated at 34 million.
How many would need to be chipped to deter kidnappers? If a child
were chipped and kidnapped, what are the chances of him or her
being brought within, say, less than 100 feet of a compatible
scanner in a country with a footprint measuring almost two million
square kilometres? And what are the chances of that signal leading
to the recovery of the child? And if the chips do become popular,
would a kidnapper hesitate to search for and remove the chip with a
knife?
