First Installment - Mark of the Beast Watch

Google's USB based prototype security token  Yubico

MedFob

I started a blog called PurrVasiveComputing a while back with the intention of documenting how distributed, or pervasive computing is threatening our integrity as autonomous human entities. Not surprisingly it turned out to be too much work to do research on the topic, and keep up this blog. I removed most of the content from PurrVasiveComputing, and it has been sitting idle ever since. Two recent developments, though, have spurred me to start writing on this topic again, and just post them here.

So we all now that passwords are a pain in the ass, and nearly everyone fails to create personal passwords that are considered strong. A lot of us, have also discovered the convenience and utility of the USB Flash Drive.  We also all know how easy it is to lose a set of keys, and you had better hope that that customer file you were going to work on at home was encrypted properly, or you just might find yourself sitting in a lawyers office with a court reporter present, to explain how 25,000 SSNs were recovered off of your thumb drive and posted online!

Then there are all of those damn forms to fill out at the doctor's office, and all of those pesky and annoying HIPPA regulations. And as you get older, the number of providers you are seeing is probably increasing, and wouldn't it be a good idea if your Internist could look back at something you told your G.P. back in 1989, that just may shed some light on those chronic pains you have been having?

Maybe it is not necessity that is the mother of invention, but  rather convenience. So into the void marches the two similar devices seen above to make your life so much easier. A while back I was pondering the whole problem of personal data security, and quickly came to the conclusion that we needed to personally own all of our own data locally, and not put it in the cloud, unless your personal device gave authority to do so. Then it just as quickly occurred to me that such a device would be worthless if it wasn't always on your person. Then it dawned on me that they only way of course to ensure that it was always on your person would be to have the device implanted under your skin. I made a quick mental note to abandon all aspirations to patent such a device and fly to Palo Alto looking for venture capital.