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"I did more research, and realized I almost would rather be a biologist than a writer, because there was incredible stuff going on!"
- Greg Bear

Skull Bug  
  A small electronic device implanted in the cranium at birth; used for monitoring and control.  

Alfred Bester creates a wild free-for-all world in this novel. I'm not sure if this is the first reference to the idea of implanting a monitoring device at birth - anyone?

...you live in the homes of our Group and you don't know what's going on in the crazy culture outside. It's a bugged and drugged world. Ninety percent of the bods have bugs implanted in their skulls in hospital when they're born. They're monitored constantly. The air is crisscrossed with thousands of broadcasts.
Technovelgy from The Computer Connection, by Alfred Bester.
Published by Berkeley Publishing in 1974
Additional resources -

Be sure to also see VeriChip RFID Tags To Be Implanted In Patients.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Computer Connection
  More Ideas and Technology by Alfred Bester
  Tech news articles related to The Computer Connection
  Tech news articles related to works by Alfred Bester

Skull Bug-related news articles:
  - VeriChip RFID Tag Patient Implant Badges Now FDA Approved

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Spherical Police Robot Rolls In China

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