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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.

3 of 168 comments (clear)

  1. Re:You could just... by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'd like to have the chip implanted in my dick. I have a tiny little mind, and am easily amused by puerile shenanigans . . . so whipping out my dick and waving it around to open doors and pay for stuff . . . priceless!

    MasterCard, Visa and American Express, please take note of this post! This is the "Innovative Cloud of Internet of Things," that everyone is talking about!

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  2. Re:This is stupid by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 4, Funny

    Our company uses a chip in our employee IDs. I get into our Stockholm office by turning around and banging the scanner with my ass--it's just the right height to read the card in my wallet just fine that way. The fact that the corporate logo is pasted across the front of the card scanner just makes it all the more heartwarming.

    We use a separate fob for the outside door (we share the building with several other firms). That works just fine, too, and people seldom if ever come to the office without their house and/or car keys.

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    Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  3. Re:This is stupid by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Funny

    I get into our Stockholm office by turning around and banging the scanner with my ass

    TWERK TO ENTER WORK

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"