Human beings may be forced to be 'microchipped' like pet dogs, a shocking official report into the rise of the Big Brother state has warned.
The microchips - which are implanted under the skin - allow the wearer's movements to be tracked and store personal information about them.
They could be used by companies who want to keep tabs on an employee's movements or by Governments who want a foolproof way of identifying their citizens - and storing information about them.
The prospect of 'chip-citizens' - with its terrifying echoes of George Orwell's 'Big Brother' police state in the book 1984 - was raised in an official report for Britain's Information Commissioner Richard Thomas into the spread of surveillance technology.
The report, drawn up by a team of respected academics, claims that Britain is a world-leader in the use of surveillance technology and its citizens the most spied-upon in the free world.
It paints a frightening picture of what Britain might be like in ten years time unless steps are taken to regulate the use of CCTV and other spy technologies.
The reports editors Dr David Murakami Wood, managing editor of the journal Surveillance and Society and Dr Kirstie Ball, ...   more »

A "Tower of Babel" device that gives the illusion of being bilingual is being developed by US scientists.
Users simply have to silently mouth a word in their own language for it to be translated and read out in another.
The researchers said the effect was like watching a television programme that had been dubbed.
The system, detailed in New Scientist, is not yet fully accurate, but experts said it showed the technology was "within reach".
 The idea is that you can mouth words in English and they will come out in Chinese or another language
Tanja Schultz 
The translation systems that are currently in use work by using voice recognition software.
But this requires people to speak out loud and then wait for the translation to be read out, making conversations difficult.
But the new device, being created by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, is different.
Electrodes are attached to the neck and face to detect the movements that occur as the person silently mouths words and phrases.
Using this data, a computer can work out the sounds being formed and then build these sounds up into words.
The system is then able to translate the words into ...   more »

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Thursday that both private investors and central banks were shifting away from the U.S. dollar and toward the euro.
"We're beginning to see some move from the dollar to the euro, both from the private sector ... but also from monetary authorities and central banks," Greenspan told a conference sponsored by the Commercial Finance Association.
His comments pushed the dollar down, a sign that Greenspan, who retired from the U.S. central bank in January, still holds some sway in financial markets.
As he had done repeatedly when he led the central bank, Greenspan said it was imperative for the United States to resist protectionist pressures that could make an unwinding of the large U.S. current account trade gap economically painful.
"We'll get to the point at some point that willingness to finance it will slow, and if you can't finance it, it won't happen," Greenspan said of the broad trade measure.
He said, however, that if the economy remained flexible, the adjustment "should have very little effect on production and capacity."
Greenspan warned, however, that if the United States threw up barriers to isolate itself from the pressures of globalization, "the adjustment ...   more »

By George Jones, Political Editor
Last Updated: 2:52am BST 24/10/2006
Audio: Philip Johnston on the DNA database
Tony Blair called yesterday for the national DNA database to be expanded to include every citizen.He said there should be no limit on the development of the database because it was vital for catching serious criminals.   
Tony Blair claimed during a trip to the Forensic Science Service in London that extended use of DNA had public backing
The Conservatives accused him of attempting to expand the DNA database by stealth and called for Parliament to vote on whether details of people who were innocent or not charged should be included against their wishes.
The Prime Minister said the public backed the extended use of DNA and urged police forces across the country to make use of technological advances to reopen thousands of unresolved "cold cases".
During a tour of the Forensic Science Service headquarters in London, he dismissed concerns of opposition politicians, saying the public backed the database because it was "helping us track down murderers, rapists".
The national DNA database has expanded by about a third to 3.6 million profiles since the Criminal Justice Act 2003, which allowed police to take ...   more »

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Oct. 23 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have developed a biochip that greatly increases researchers' ability to measure the electrical activities of cells.
The biochip produced by Purdue University researchers is said to be capable of obtaining 60 times more data in just one reading than is possible with current technology.
"Instead of doing one experiment per day, as is often the case, this technology is automated and capable of performing hundreds of experiments in one day," said Marshall Porterfield, a professor of agricultural and biological engineering who led the research team.
The device works by measuring the concentration of ions as they enter and exit cells. The chip can record those concentrations in up to 16 living cells temporarily sealed within fluid-filled pores in the microchip. With four electrodes per cell, the chip delivers 64 simultaneous, continuous sources of data.
Porterfield notes about 15 percent of the drugs currently in development affect the activities of ion channels that facilitate communication and the transfer of electrical signals from one cell to the next.
The device is described online in the journal Sensors and Actuators and the study is to appear in the journal's November print edition.
Original Source...   more »