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Thousands of Swedes Are Inserting Microchips Under Their Skin (npr.org)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: In Sweden, a country rich with technological advancement, thousands have had microchips inserted into their hands. The chips are designed to speed up users' daily routines and make their lives more convenient -- accessing their homes, offices and gyms is as easy as swiping their hands against digital readers. They also can be used to store emergency contact details, social media profiles or e-tickets for events and rail journeys within Sweden. Proponents of the tiny chips say they're safe and largely protected from hacking, but one scientist is raising privacy concerns around the kind of personal health data that might be stored on the devices.
Around the size of a grain of rice, the chips typically are inserted into the skin just above each user's thumb, using a syringe similar to that used for giving vaccinations. The procedure costs about $180. So many Swedes are lining up to get the microchips that the country's main chipping company says it can't keep up with the number of requests. More than 4,000 Swedes have adopted the technology, with one company, Biohax International, dominating the market. The chipping firm was started five years ago by Jowan Osterlund, a former professional body piercer. After spending the past two years working full time on the project, he is currently developing training materials so he can hire Swedish doctors and nurses to help take on some of his heavy workload.
Around the size of a grain of rice, the chips typically are inserted into the skin just above each user's thumb, using a syringe similar to that used for giving vaccinations. The procedure costs about $180. So many Swedes are lining up to get the microchips that the country's main chipping company says it can't keep up with the number of requests. More than 4,000 Swedes have adopted the technology, with one company, Biohax International, dominating the market. The chipping firm was started five years ago by Jowan Osterlund, a former professional body piercer. After spending the past two years working full time on the project, he is currently developing training materials so he can hire Swedish doctors and nurses to help take on some of his heavy workload.
Where's my axe?
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
Why not wear a chipped ring instead? That way you can change your ID if it gets compromised and no knives are involved.
The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
At 30, do they go Carousel?
In being the "IT country doctor" in a high-end retirement area, everyone's biggest IT problem I encounter here is keeping track of passwords. If an implanted read-only chip full of large random numbers were offered as an alternative to the whole password mess, 95% of this town would be on it like stink on skunk. No more lists of passwords in spidery handwriting taped onto monitors, no more having to come up with online identifiers cobbled up to satisfy increasingly arcane security rules and then forgotten. To log onto anything from your system, just place the palm of your hand on a USB-connected reader and the app, operating system or website would use the I'th random number on the chip as your password.
For our seasoned citizens, an authentication chip would be the greatest thing since Medicare.
Why not wear a chipped ring instead? That way you can change your ID... ...to the person you stole it from.
An ID "ring" appeals even less to me than a chip implant, because at least it's a lot harder for someone to grab an internal chip to spoof being me.
I think the smartest way to go about this would be to implant the chip at the top of your head, that way when you didn't want it read you could wear a tinfoil hat. Talk about killing two birds with one stone!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
What a ripoff, that's $420 in dog dollars.
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.