Last year, Three Square Market, a tech firm, was in headlines of the media for successfully implanting microchips the arms of its employees which allowed them to open doors, use computers by logging in and buy snacks from vending machines of the company with a single and simple swipe of the arm.

Initially, the chips were considered an novelty, but due to the decision taken by the Wisconsin-based-firm, there is more ambitious plan with it as per the chief executive Todd Westby. Westby said during his appearance on CNBC that his company his attempting to get a much more sophisticated microchip which can gets it power through the heat of human body and also includes features like GPS tracking capabilities and voice activation.

The GPS tracking facility in Microchips may offer an opportunity for some about giving away our autonomy over to Skynet-like government overlords and according to Three Square Market officials, the chips will provide a good way of keeping track of people – especially for those who suffer from diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia.

The president of Three Square Market and chip technology business Three Square Chip, Patrick McMullan, told CNBC that the goal is a “worthy cause”.

“It’s not only GPS, it’s not only voice activation, it’s working on monitoring your vital signs,” McMullan said. “And there are different medical institutions that obviously want that.”

“It’s going to tell my . . . doctor’s office I have an issue,” he added.

Supporters for medical microchips find the devices helpful in retaining someone’s complete medical history. According to them, those chips will prove to be invaluable when the patient becomes unconscious or suffers from memory loss for example. It will help emergency room doctors with the details of the person without which it would have been impossible to know the person’s prescribed medications or history of illness.

Opponents or critics say that the practice of implanting microchips of such kind will raise serious privacy concerns, especially when the question of responsibility comes to the fore about who will be held responsible for the personal data of the microchips that gives clue of a person’s details like individual movement, behaviors and health.

According to Westby who told CNBC, that a total of 92 employees from the 196 have agreed to get the rice-sized mircro-chips implanted into their hands. Until now, only one person has got the device removed.

“What we’ve really done is made it acceptable, or brought it to the forefront where people are now talking about it and looking at the benefits it can do for a person,” he noted.

Danielle Paquette noted in “The Washington Post” last year that the microchips are not new and have been utilized to tag “pets and livestock” and also for tracking deliveries.

Recently, a Swedish company called BioHax, successfully implanted its microchips in thousands of its customers which helped the company to avoid the hassle to provide tickets and the customers were able to use facilities like trains, turning on the lights of their flats. As per the claim by the company, the microchips act as enhancers that are “completely under your control”.

You May Also Read: Newly Elected Pakistani PM Imran Khan Wants To Extend “Humanitarian Assitance” For Kerala