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Employees In Swedish Office Complex Volunteer For RFID Implants For Access
Lucas123 writes A Swedish office building is enabling corporate tenants to implant RFID chips into employee's hands in order to gain access through security doors and use services such as photocopiers. The employees working at Epicenter, a 15,000-square-foot building in Stockholm, can even pay for lunch with a swipe of their hand. Hannes Sjöblad, founder of Bionyfiken, a Swedish association of Biohackers, said Epicenter is not alone in a movement to experiment with uses for implanted chips that use RFID/NFC technology. There are also several other offices, companies, gyms and education institutions in Stockholm where people access the facilities with implanted chips. Bionyfiken just began a nationwide study using volunteers implanted with RFID/NFC. "It's a small, but indeed fast-growing, fraction which has chosen to try it out." The goal of the Bionyfiken project is to create a user community of at least 100 people with RFID implants who experiment with and help develop possible uses. But, not everyone is convinced it's a good idea.
John Kindervag, a principal security and privacy analyst at Forrester Research, said RFID/NFC chip implants are simply "scary" and pose a major threat to privacy and security. The fact that the NFC can't be shielded like a fob or chip in a credit card can with a sleeve means it can be activated without the user's knowledge, and information can be accessed. "I think it's pretty scary that people would want to do that [implant chips]," Kindervag said.
John Kindervag, a principal security and privacy analyst at Forrester Research, said RFID/NFC chip implants are simply "scary" and pose a major threat to privacy and security. The fact that the NFC can't be shielded like a fob or chip in a credit card can with a sleeve means it can be activated without the user's knowledge, and information can be accessed. "I think it's pretty scary that people would want to do that [implant chips]," Kindervag said.
...tattoo everybody with a bar-code...
Look, if you want to be that stupid, as long as it only affects you, go right ahead. But don't bother anyone else with it, thanks. Yet there's the rub: Before you know it, it's become de rigeur and everyone is expected to follow, something I'll never do voluntarily. So force it is going to be. I object to that.
Isn't it like extremely easy to copy passive NFC/RFID tags? You just record them and replay them.
So in essence this adds nothing to security and only harms privacy. (But I guess that is pretty much the norm everywhere these days.)
Well, at least it might be a bit convenient since the people doesn't need to remember their keys.
Not that it should be an issue, they would probably rather be caught dead than forgetting their smartphone somewhere.
"Swedish office worker electrocuted by faulty RFID scanner"
The NSA declined to comment although a muffled "W0000000t!!!!" could be heard in the background.
Requiem for the American Dream
I'm no RFID expert, but it's just used for identification, right? It won't be long until face scanning is good enough that you can identify someone from even further away than the range of an RFID chip. The potential for people cloning the chips seems worse than any sort of privacy/tracking worries.
I used to "wear" a RFID chip, it was claimed more to account for for personal in case of an accident, thinking about it now not many would of passed through the portal if an accident took place.
Would we of had them implanted if small enough? For the job and pay I think it would of been accepted at that time. Security was all important with different levels, I had to use a hand geometry scanner to reach my work place.
They've been predicting this technology for decades, based on the 'mark of the beast' being necessary to buy anything
[The Beast] also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. (Rev 13:16,17)
"New and improved over our previous 666 model corporate drone." Available in Yes man versions.
This is the dumbest thing ever. You're going to get an RFID chip that will be obsolete in 5 years embedded into your hand when you can accomplish the same thing with a fob on your key ring. I get why people are pushing this technology. It's because they have a job doing it and don't think that they can land a better one. Get real. The world doesn't need this, because it's completely asinine.
So many things wrong with the very IDEA of this.
An implant is as permanent and as symbolic as a fucking TATTOO. Remember the last people to use tattoos to identify individuals? Read some books and see how that shit turned out for six million people.
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
"...NFC can't be shielded like a fob or chip in a credit card can with a sleeve means it can be activated without the user's knowledge, and information can be accessed."
And how many people currently shield their smartphones from bluetooth, NFC, WiFi, IR, radio, or GPS? (you know, that technology we use to track things) Obviously the majority of post-Snowden society today has no problem carrying around devices capable of tracking them.
Activated without the users knowledge? Well, only if they didn't take the time to read every page the 37 EULAs they've accepted, along with the other 27 auto-accepted when they activated their new smartphone. I'm certain data is being slurped with every GPS refresh and radio pulse. And it was agreed to by the owner.
Society is so accepting to this that a kids game theme (follow the leader, tag-you're-it) could be tied to the marketing and people would buy it.
Doubly so if Apple did it.
Yes, except⦠that they're easily removed and not visible. But besides that they're totally like tattoos.
This has roughly zero advantage over clipping your ID card (with RFID) to a lanyard you wear at work. I'll leave it to my fellow Slashdotters to list all the disadvantages. So this is just plain stupid and pointless, along with all of the other adjectives others will post.
I know the new "progressive" thing is that we're all interchangeable cells of out defined group, you're "a black" or "a white" or "the rich" or "the poor", but for myself I like a little personal privacy and individual dignity.
fuck off #49004625, when you've got one of these things in your arm you'll not be an AC any more - all your personal data will be displayed in plain text for all who are willing to pay for the directory CD. From insurance underwriters to cialis merchants to internal revenue service to security services to the health service, they will each own a piece of you.
Mark my words, and mark these words as well:
"Arbeit Macht Frei".
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
Human rights violating,
What specific human right does it violate? Please give references as "because it is" is not proof or even evidence.
Just walking around with a phone, or a face, is already enough to lose your AC status.
Filled with brainless sheep and black/arab animals. Goodbye sweden. Later we will take what is left of you, and remove the pathetic people of yours in the process.
Translation, cool name.
Try and imagine what it would be like if every single moment of every single day were recorded by numerous devices you so much as got within close proximity too, now think of what could happen if one person with one axe to grind wanted to falsely accuse or implicate you in something, and knew of a security vulnerability on the device. You would have no defense against self-incrimination.
The more numerous these devices are, the harder it will be to falsely accuse someone.
You would have no defense against self-incrimination.
"Your honor, these RFID transaction records show that my client was buying a cup of coffee 39 miles away from the crime scene at the time of the murder"
This Perfect Day (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Perfect_Day) is coming!
Foretold Ira Levin....
He is just watching fox.n for information. Besides who gives a shit about a small country in Africa being invaded by Putin.
You have not answered my question. I must therefore conclude that there is no specific right that is being violated.
every single moment of every single day were recorded by numerous devices
A lot of things can be imagined. What is important is what is probably going to happen. That would only happen if one was within range of an RFID reader every minute of every day. Sorry but that is not going to happen any time soon.
You would have no defense against self-incrimination.
If you are talking about the Fifth Amendment, it does not apply. The privilege is defined as follows.
The privilege against compelled self-incrimination is defined as "the constitutional right of a person to refuse to answer questions or otherwise give testimony against himself or herself. ... "
Leaving evidence of one's presence is not "answer questions or otherwise give testimony against himself or herself".
Yep, like what the ranchers often do to their calf - branding
I mean, what's next?
Every new born has to be 'chipped', like kittens / puppies?
What NSA/GCHQ did was bad enough and this is much worse !
We might as well chuck that UN Charter of Human Rights out of the window, since human themselves are willing to be branded
So, besides not knowing the physical difference between RFID and tattoos you don't even know how RFID-chips (don't) work.
And CDs??? Seriously??? Are you still living in the 90s?
Have you ever heard of the word Camera? how about security camera?
every single day you are recorded by numerous devices that you got within close proximity too.
I wouldn't get an RFID chip that isn't replaceable, or at least changeable. Also I am waiting for complex Public key one time transmissions from said chips, instead of static data. Biometrics is a bad security because you can never change it. That is the trick. The key you are using needs to be changeable. It doesn't have to be easy to change, but actually changeable.
What is the first thing one does when they buy a house? You change the locks. As you can't trust that someone else doesn't have keys.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
The privacy part is important, but not the only part. It's a bit like biometrics, that aren't replacable and aren't quite private. Of course, you can zap the tag and implant a new one, and keep doing that until your arm rattles. But that doesn't make it a good idea. Personally I already object to tagging pets, because of this, and because of the wireless part. I'd acquiesce to tattooing a number in the ear so that a vet can look up ownership, but that's as far as I'm willing to go. Nobody needs to check ownership from a distance, like with a nicely strong rfid reader on a drone or something. You could easily track me through my pets. If you think that's far-fetched, you'd be wrong: This sort of inference is what "big data" is all about, and it gets used increasingly often.
For humans, it gets increasingly complicated (of course). Humans don't have owners, at least not in name. Yet with this construct, you carry a hard-to-remove identification issued by your place of work. What if you leave? What if that wasn't on the best terms? Even if the government takes over the registration of such tags (and then (ab)uses them for everything from medical to tax purposes, with driver's and other licences thrown into the mix for good measure) you rely entirely on the good will and honesty of some other party to not fuck up the administration.
Beyond that, you can never just leave the work badge at home, like for going out to some kinky party. Maybe you don't want your co-workers to know your weekend-whereabouts, but to keep private you now have to wrap your arm in tin foil. In that sense it's over-engineering. A badge would do pretty well. Or you could use an rfid chip embedded in a ring (such a thing got kickstarted not long ago), which is just the thing for access purposes, doesn't get lost or stolen easily, and doesn't require surgery to remove.
Implanting, like biometrics, is a quest for "security" that actually does far more damage to the subject, this way or that way, than that it gains the system in actual robustness. In that sense, it's snake oil, and it makes you the human into a neat little package to be tracked. A disposable thing. I see this as dehumanising, as entirely missing the point of what it means to be human. So I object.
We still use CDs. They are compatible with more systems than USB sticks or memory cards.
Work will make you free.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
This is the Lebensborn program. Nothing like you describe, and your dates are all off
I'm not going to refute the rest except to indicate that it has no relationship with reality. If you're trolling, it's a shitty troll, also.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
"Your honor, these RFID transaction records show that someone using my client's credentials was buying a cup of coffee 39 miles away from the crime scene at the time of the murder"
TFTFY.
The employment climate in Sweden if very far from the socialist dream of the 1970's. Today it is very easy to get kicked out on your ass in Sweden. You don't want the implant? Well then you cant do your job, audios! We had a guy fire for saying he liked big breasts and another because he wanted he stipulated vacation during summer (which is his right by law). Sweden has somehow transformed from a democracy with a good employment climate to a dictatorship (we basically have a one party since the "December agreement" last year) with no democracy and zero workers protection.
The more numerous these devices are, the harder it will be to falsely accuse someone.
Uh no. They are trivial to clone.
"Your honor, these RFID transaction records show that my client was buying a cup of coffee 39 miles away from the crime scene at the time of the murder"
They show nothing of the sort, since they are easily copied.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
..."The Mark of the BEAST" comments...
Headed towards a world liking to the plot of Gattaca. I don't feel that this will be the only tool that will make the masses ever more a corporate identity. But is moving populations towards some very grim days. I think history has repeated itself numerous times that private nor government institutions can not be trusted to adhere to basic civil rights and liberties. Legislations will be amended or simply secretly circumvented through proxy government schemes (classified ops) to abuse it's people even in nations that have been founded on constitutions...
Would give you the same effect, pose no health risk and not be permanent ( people do change jobs ).
If you're the forgetful type, whatever is critical that you must bring to work, touch it to the door of your house as you leave. It quickly becomes habit - close door, touch badge, lock door, open car. After doing that for ten days straight, it'll become rather difficult to forget.
This method can be taught to 3rd graders.
We still use CDs. They are compatible with more systems than USB sticks or memory cards.
plus hey aren't nearly as much of a security hazard ...
This is patently ridiculous!
In the RFID chip, we write the numbers much, much smaller than the WW2 tattoos!
... though you have to wonder who would voluntarily do something like that. It's easy to see who want to do it _to_ someone though.
The implants are used on herd animals in farming and pets. Is that what those people feel they are?
"Consensus" in science is _always_ a political construct.
Regardless of how minor the surgery may be, I would *never* consent to surgery just to get a job. Never mind to implant a tracking device that remains active outside the workplace.
The employment rates over there must really suck if people are "volunteering" for this.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
I think everyone from employers to credit card companies and loyalty card companies are going to be issuing RFID-embedded cards real soon now, and so in the next couple-three years I'm probably going to end up with a lot of RFID chips on me. I've been kicking around the idea of trying to read them with my NFC-enabled phone and then playing them back later on so I don't have to carry around all those goddamn loyalty cards. Of course, it's just a step from that to picking up and playing other people's. Anyway it seems kind of pointless to stick a chip in my body when I carry a device capable of emitting NFC everywhere that I go, anyway.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Currently I'm only using it to unlock my phone and eventually will be doing my home door locks as well (with manual key bypass of course) and maybe try rigging it up to the ignition of one of my bikes (for fun).
I really have a lot to say about these things and their potential use in security, but I'll keep my comments fairly short:
* The range on them is very, very poor (which isn't a bad thing) and if the device doing the reading doesn't have the right antenna, it can be awkward to use. Our cellphones, for example, are horrible at reading these cylindrical tags, making unlocking my phone somewhat awkward at times (I had a dream where just picking up my phone would unlock it... not quite there). Door locks on the other hand do a much better job (different form factor, different antenna).
* I think these tags are better as being part of two-factor auth, re: used in addition to a pin code or other key. For my uses, I will not be using them in a two-factor auth setup, but I see there being a valid use there.
* If I were to implement these in a two-factor auth setup, I would probably use the Tag ID + random seed code written into the data area that changes every 'x' number of access or time of access to the resource. Of course the problem with this is that they've only got so many write cycles (and limited memory, mine has about 888 bytes), so striking that balance is a thing.
That's just a few notes on them - I guess the only other thing I would say is any implementation I do with it will always have a manual backup (physical key) and probably won't be on a super secure set of resources (or at least not without an extra security measure or two in place).
A small permanently implanted device wirelessly broadcasting (Yes I know passively) its unchangeable code? Isn't that completely the opposite of "security"? I think a lot of people in the corporate culture mistake "security" with "convenience" and assume everyone else on planet earth is as inept as them when it comes to technology.
They basically inject the device. It hurts a bit more than getting a vaccine.
It's not mandatory, it just replaces the normal badge. I guess it's a publicity stunt.
Most implanted RFID tags can be very easily removed. You should never have the pet-id variety injected, as these have a shell with special enzymes on it so that it bonds to the inner skin. Removing these is also possible, but very painfull.
Now all i have to do to get in somewhere is chop someones hand off.
I see RFID implants as the mark of the beast. 666. It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. Revelation 13:16-17 This is my interpretation.
This is not the first mass publication of people willingly getting themselves chipped. If enough people start to believe the media (safer, and easier, really! *wink*) then there is no need to force anyone to get chipped.
Here, there are numerous negative comments surrounding the subject. See any of this same negative feedback in the "news"? I have not, yet I have seen people paraded in front of the camera with ID tattoos, and remember a Florida family being portrayed as very happy and "safe" after they were all chipped.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
I chose to have the implant in my penis so I have permission to whip it out a couple dozen times a day.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Just tattoo bar codes on the nape of everyone's neck and get it over with.
Since "there are plenty if times", it might be an interesting experiment to touch your work keyfob to the door of your house as you leave each day. Once the habit is engrained, you may never leave the house without your fob again.
Try getting an MRI with an implant. The last one I had on my head and neck for my acoustic neuroma, the technician told me to remove my wedding ring because it might vibrate. Right on the form it asks "do you have an implant?"
"Could be worse...could be raining." Igor
I'd disagree. I know plenty of laptops and tablets now being put out that lack a spinning disc drive, but aside from a couple apple products, I'm not aware of many computers in the last 15 years without USB.
would rather not see HR calling people into the office for layoffs. could be pretty messy
Well. I would prefer to have the chip in my wallet
Because we can no longer correct people in schools for grammar. It's the motive in writing that gets graded today, not the ability to communicate. Government mandates, you are welcome.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
I used to think the author(s) of Revelations were unbelievably prescient and ahead of their time in predicting the ascendence of bar codes, RFID tags, etc. to identify and to number people.
Now with facial recognition, and with DNA readers in the future, who needs to "mark" people?
If you carry around your phone 24/7 then you are a really sad person in my opinion. Life away from the constant Twitter and Facebook feeds is really quite nice. That said, I have no qualms either moving or asking people to stop taking pictures if they happen to continue after I move. You are kind of right that people are tracked more often than they may think. At the same time, many of us are not tracked as often as you seem to think.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
I'm a secular Agnostic
Religious apologist here. You are not an agnostic. That's possible only in theory. In practice, human nature makes it impossible. It would take supra-human mental discipline to remain truly agnostic.
... now I have to microwave my arm?
---- "Logoff! That cookie shit makes me nervous!" - A. Soprano
Doesn't seem actually quite that easy though in practice. Some RFID tags employ a challenge/response mechanism.
If someone does have such a solution available, though, I'm interested! A colleague tried to reuse the tags at work for some other purposes by writing a custom reader for them, but I think he gave up due to those issues.
Yeah, if they wanted to make it easy and cool, why not put in a ring or earring or something? Should be easy enough to do, and then you could have the "one ring to access them all"
Or the closest we've gotten to it yet (I hope).
BTW, whatever happened to that series? Afaict, it stopped after the first season.
mothers afraid of lost children and sexual predators are going to want this and medically a chip implant could monitor electrolytes insulin and blood sugar level cancer early detection cardiac enzymes cholesterol lipids etc and be powered by a watch through the skin using magnetic fields like nfc. call the company beast microsystems and the first chip the mark 1.lol.........
I think volunteer means if you don't you'll be looking for work elsewhere. I find this offensive myself that some piece of hardware is stuffed into my body so I can use the copier. There has to be a deeper agenda overall. This could easily be done with facial recognition, etc. without the need for minor surgery and a way to track you wherever you go. Even your ID card would work.