Setting the stage for controversial tracking technology, the satellite telecommunications company ORBCOMM has signed an agreement with VeriChip Corp., maker of the world's first implantable radio frequency identification microchip.

VeriChip, a subsidiary of Applied Digital, will work with ORBCOMM to develop and market new military, security and healthcare applications in the U.S. and around the world, the company said.

As WorldNetDaily reported, Applied Digital has created and successfully field-tested a prototype of an implant for humans with GPS, or global positioning satellite, technology.

Satellites monitored 24 hours a day from ORBCOMM's Network Control Center in Dulles, Va. (photo courtesy: ORBCOMM)

Once inserted into a human, it can be tracked by GPS technology and the information relayed wirelessly to the Internet, where an individual's location, movements and vital signs can be stored in a database for future reference.

"ORBCOMM's relationship with VeriChip provides yet another new and important industry that will use the ORBCOMM satellite system and its ground infrastructure network to transmit messages globally," ORBCOMM CEO Jerry Eisenberg said.

Initially, after privacy concerns and verbal protests over marketing the technology for government use, Applied backed away from public discussion about such implants and the possibility of using them to usher in a "cashless society."

In addition, to quell privacy concerns, the company issued numerous denials, stating it had no plans for implants.

When WND reported in April 2002 that the company planned such implant technology, Applied Digital spokesman Matthew Cossolotto accused WND of intentionally printing falsehoods.

Less than three weeks later, however, the company issued a press release announcing that it was accelerating development on a GPS implant.

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