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Companies Start Implanting Microchips Into Workers' Bodies (latimes.com)
A Swedish start-up called Epicenter is offering to implant its employees and start-up members with microchips that function as swipe cards, allowing them to open doors, operate equipment or buy food and drinks with a wave of the hand. While these microchips have been available for decades, the technology has never been implanted in humans on such a broad scale. "Epicenter and a handful of other companies are the first to make chip implants broadly available," reports Associated Press. From the report: [A]s with most new technologies, it raises security and privacy issues. Although the chips are biologically safe, the data they generate can show how often employees come to work or what they buy. Unlike company swipe cards or smartphones, which can generate the same data, people cannot easily separate themselves from the chips. Epicenter, which is home to more than 100 companies and roughly 2,000 workers, began implanting workers in January 2015. Now, about 150 workers have the chips. A company based in Belgium also offers its employees such implants, and there are isolated cases around the world in which tech enthusiasts have tried them out in recent years. The small implants use near-field communication technology, or NFC, the same as in contactless credit cards or mobile payments. When activated by a reader a few inches away, a small amount of data flows between the two devices via electromagnetic waves. The implants are "passive," meaning they contain information that other devices can read, but cannot read information themselves. Ben Libberton, a microbiologist at Stockholm's Karolinska Institute, says hackers could conceivably gain huge swaths of information from embedded microchips. The ethical dilemmas will become bigger the more sophisticated the microchips become. Epicenter workers stage monthly events where attendees can receive the implant.
A bracelet with the chip in it would be a much better alternative, with no need to implant anything, cause tissue scarring, risk infection, etc.
Seriously, it could be a silicone band. Or a ring. Or a little sticker you could apply to any piece of jewelry you want.
I think you need to reassess the term 'voluntary', as there are many ways that corporate management can 'entice' you to 'volunteer' against your will. It's a slippery slope here, and as a previous poster mentioned not only invades privacy beyond what is required to achieve the desired function (unlock a door, purchase lunch), but also imposes health risks that many may not wish to undertake merely for the sake of employment.
That's a dangerous way of thinking. The problem is that making microchip implants ordinary opens the door for these type of things to be abused. First it's just voluntary for those who want to work for a particular company, then it's just ordinary for those who work for particular industries, then it's just your driver's license. At first all it does is open doors, and then later iterations will monitor your location and health and who you interact with.
Sure, it's a slippery slope argument but slippery slope arguments aren't necessarily fallacious. This has already happened with cell phones. They started as a niche device and now it's difficult to function in society without one. And they collect all your information and make privacy obsolete. It doesn't take a ridiculous amount of foresight to see the dangers of certain technologies. George Orwell predicted the danger of televisions with cameras/microphones connected to the internet in 1949 yet we still allow these things in our home without demanding legislative protections to our privacy.
I see a problem here.
"From the depths of my skeptical and rationalist soul, I ask the Lord to protect me from California touchie-feeliedom."
Basically it's like branding cattle. Of course this could be done through rings, bracelets, or even simple rfid's in wallets, but the point is you CAN'T remove it when you want. I suspect this is a test/beginning in getting people to be branded just like livestock. The trouble is, like livestock, we'll have zero privacy (see the movie "Minority Report": the possibilities there (knowing what to market to you while passing through a mall) are similar to what is already happening now to quieter degree). People need to recognize the purpose of a design, and when they see it it works against them, say "no". People aren't vocalizing their concerns enough on this one. We all want to be a part of the A future. The question is, which future do we really want long term.
"Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
Learning guitar, eh? Good for you. Builds character.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.