Well, we heard of it's first introduction into animals and pets to "track" them for their owners, now they're getting ready for a trial run for the British Army.
Is this truly the "mark of the Beast", or just another way for technology to depersonalize us to make their accounting jobs easier?

British Army Volunteers To Be Microchipped
Soldier Magazine, April 2001

7-19-1

Smart card may be about to give way to the "smarter" soldier.

In a trial believed to be a world first, a cross-section of
soldiers have allowed themselves to be micro-chipped as part of a
study into how new technology may be harnessed to revolutionise the
bureaucracy of personal administration.

All the troops involved in the project are volunteers.

Impetus for phase one of the Army Personnel Rationalisation
Individual Listings project came from the acclaimed Passports for
Pets scheme, from which much of the technology has been adapted.

The trial, which began at the start of this month, is to run for
six months. Should it be the success which project managers
anticipate, the whole of the Army could be micro-chipped by 2010.

Col. M. W. Jones, late RRW, told Soldier: " The chip, which is
implanted in the neck, would have many uses, one of which would be
to replace the current ID card. This would protect the identity of
those in the Armed Forces and prevent lost ID cards falling into
the wrong hands."

Every military base would have a facility to "swipe" military
personnel in and out of bases, operational theatres and so on.

It would make the introduction of the Pay As You Dine Scheme much
easier, allowing mess staff to swipe soldiers as they passed the
hot plate. It is estimated that savings in time and administration
of the PAYD scheme alone could in one year pay for up to three
additional Challenger 2 main battle tanks or 27 single living
accommodation upgrades.

"A continual database would show the whereabouts of every serving
member of the Armed Forces, giving commanders much greater control
on the battlefield," said Col Jones.

"We could "swipe" casualties to get their medical records, blood
group or next-of-kin. There would no longer be a need for an
individual's documents to be carted around the world."

All relevant information would be held in the neck chip. "Guinea
pigs" say this process is virtually painless. A red patch over the
site of the implant fades within days and there are said to be no
long-term side effects.

There is, however some concern that individual freedoms might be
compromised by the Army Personnel Rationalisation Individual
Listings (APRIL) scheme, which could also allow the monitoring of
troops during off-duty periods.

Anyone fitted with a micro-chip who takes unofficial leave, for
example could rapidly be traced at home or abroad.

A purpose-built "stealth" or "switch-off" mechanism for the chip is
being developed so personnel would become "invisible" when on
leave, AWOL or posted to Special Forces units. This would
effectively divorce them from the central electronic records
management system (ERMS) located in Glasgow.

Certain trades, including some REME personnel who come into contact
with powerful electro-magnetic fields, which distort micro-chip
memory, are likely to be exempted.

If phase one of the trial - inevitably dubbed APRIL 1 - is a
success, a second phase will take the project into the high street,
allowing a soldier to be swiped when visiting a theatre, cinema or
restaurant. Major supermarket chains, which have already invested
heavily in sophisticated bar-code readers, are understood to have
asked the MoD to keep them in the picture.

Servicemen and women of the future may opt to be swiped as they
leave a retail outlet, with their bill being automatically debited
against a personal bank or building society account.

It is anticipated that an added bonus is likely to be the ease with
which product loyalty and reward points could be accumulated.

Also creating a frisson in the scientific world, Soldier has been
told, is the area of inter-personal communications linked to micro-
chips. Boffins are trying to establish if cell phone technology can
be made to interact with a chip implanted in the lobe, bringing the
proverbial "word in your ear" closer to reality.