Lawmakers Are Working On Anti-Brain-Chip Bill
This microprocessor would likely be too large to fit in your brain. Michael Lehet/via Flickr hide caption
This microprocessor would likely be too large to fit in your brain.
Michael Lehet/via FlickrAre you worried that someone is going to implant a microchip in your brain against your will? If you live in Georgia, your worries will soon be over.
A state House committee approved a measure this week that makes it a misdemeanor to implant microchips, sensors, transmitters or any other manner of tracking devices into individuals against their will. The state Senate has already passed the bill.
State Rep. Ed Seltzer, who sponsored the measure, conceded in testimony before the Georgia House Judiciary Committee that he had no evidence forced microchip implantation was occurring on a widespread basis. He said he was being "proactive," according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
But Tom Weldon, another Georgia representative, called the bill "a solution looking for a problem."
A friend of mine who lives in Georgia goes further, openly mocking the bill and its sponsors.
"In every town in America, there are people convinced that somebody, usually the FBI or CIA, has planted microchips in their bodies, which explains the voices they hear," he says. "In some places, these people get treatment. Here in Georgia, we elect them to the legislature."
But Georgia lawmakers are not alone in perceiving a threat. Microchip consent laws have been squashed this year in Virginia and Tennessee, but similar legislation has passed in California, North Dakota and Wisconsin.
"I just think you should have the right to control your own body," state Rep. Mark L. Cole, who sponsored the Virginia legislation, told The Washington Post in February. "My understanding -- I'm not a theologian -- but there's a prophecy in the Bible that says you'll have to receive a mark, or you can neither buy nor sell things in end times. Some people think these computer chips might be that mark."