I had no reason to expect more than just a few curious folks to visit this site per day. It was to be an embodiment of millennial angst from which I was going to compile responses etc. I didn't know it was going to turn into "The War of the Worlds - Internet Edition."

– Bill Cross, IDChip.com

More of this Feature • Part 1: The rise and fall of IDChip.com

Related Resources • Business Legends • Current Netlore

Elsewhere on the Web • Global Monetary Home Page • 666 Mark of the Beast Bible Prophecy • Chip Implant: Wave of the Future?

Meet the Webmaster of Global Monetary, Bill Cross. He's one of three things, depending on whom you talk to: a very funny guy, a dangerous prankster, or the antichrist.

"I didn't intend to piss anyone off," he says in retrospect. "This site was intended to be little more than a mild curiosity, not a cataclysmic event."

Cross created the site, he claims, for three harmless reasons: to get some HTML practice, to spoof millennial "end times" hysteria and to make people laugh.

"I find myself drawn to religious topics. I have always had a fascination with cults, though I myself am not religious in the slightest. To me, there can be nothing funnier than a cult member."

He finds the "end times" scaremongering by some religious groups particularly amusing.

"Just watch any television program on biblical prophecy, these are some of the main elements you will find: talk of implanted electronic identification chips, the United Nations, and the creation of a cashless global monetary system. I created an embodiment of all this."

Unfortunately, a whole lot of other people are deadly serious about the same topic. Cross was made aware of just how serious they are by the torrent of angry and curious (mostly angry) email that flooded his inbox during the first two days of IDChip.com's existence. That's when he decided to put up the disclaimer. Too many people believed him.

"I was getting lots of frantic email from people who were totally convinced that I was the antichrist and that I was selling the mark of the beast," he says. "They bought it hook, line and sinker."

Just as amazing were the numbers of people who actually filled out the form to apply for implants.  "I had about 100 applicants," says Cross. "By my reckoning, 15 of them were seriously interested in receiving the implant. I guess none of those realized it was the mark of the beast."  (As of this writing, the number of "serious" applications submitted hovers around 40.)

Cross was further astounded by the interest the site generated among high-tech companies, universities, and news organizations. The top ten institutional domains visiting Global Monetary since its inception included MIT, Microsoft, IBM, the U.S. Air Force, NASA, and the Christian Broadcasting Network.

Whatever else may be said for the idea of microchip implants in human beings, folks in high places are clearly interested. Draw your own conclusions.

The Perils of Net Satire

Cross is still shaking his head over all the fuss he unintentionally caused.  "It was never my intent to cause widespread hysteria. I want to express my sincere apologies to everybody who was put off by this or was otherwise freaked out."

In truth, the hysteria was nipped in the bud before it went too far, but the site raised hackles because too few people were able to recognize its satirical intent. Cross attributes this to an excess of gullibility, a phenomenon he believes is detrimental to the health of a free society.

"The reason we have bad laws is because we have a lot of silly people who can be convinced of anything. This is why I feel it's constructive to point out just how easily convinced they can be. I think this experiment has done that, although that was not its intent."

He has a point, but there's a flaw in that reasoning, as well. Many of the visitors to Global Monetary were convinced before they ever got there that the scenario he constructed is plausible. It shouldn't have been hard to predict that some would perceive it as deadly serious.

In the end, the experiment demostrated naivete on both sides of the equation. To give credit where credit is due, the site was funny and clever — just a bit too clever for its own good.

Aspiring Net satirists, pay heed.

Relevant links:

Global Monetary
The original site, more or less intact, now residing in a subdirectory of www.idchip.com.

The IDchip Experiment
Disclaimers and background information from Global Monetary's creator.

666 Mark of the Beast Bible Prophecy
Example of the religious beliefs satirized by IDchip.com

Is Chip Implant Wave of the Future?
From CNN: Allegedly the first known experiment implanting a microchip in a human being.

Electronic ID, Inc.
An actual company that manufactures ID chips for implantation in animals.