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More Companies Plan To Implant Microchips Into Their Employees' Hands (engadget.com)
"British companies are planning to microchip some of their staff in order to boost security and stop them accessing sensitive areas," reports the Telegraph. "Biohax, a Swedish company that provides human chip implants, told the Telegraph it was in talks with a number of UK legal and financial firms to implant staff with the devices."
An anonymous reader quote Zero Hedge: It is really happening. At one time, the idea that large numbers of people would willingly allow themselves to have microchips implanted into their hands seemed a bit crazy, but now it has become a reality. Thousands of tech enthusiasts all across Europe have already had microchips implanted, and now a Swedish company is working with very large global employers....
For security-obsessed corporations, this sort of technology can appear to have a lot of upside. If all of your employees are chipped, you will always know where they are, and you will always know who has access to sensitive areas or sensitive information. According to a top official from Biohax, the procedure to implant a chip takes "about two seconds...." Of course once this technology starts to be implemented, there will be some workers that will object. But if it comes down to a choice between getting the implant or losing their jobs, how many workers do you think will choose to become unemployed?
Engadget provides more examples, pointing out that in 2006 an Ohio surveillance firm had two employees in its secure data center implant RFIDs in their triceps, and that just last year 80 employees at Three Square Market in Wisconsin had chips implanted into their hands. Their article also hints that "no one's thinking about the inevitable DEF CON talk 'Chipped employees: Fun with attack vectors'"
Dr. Stewart Southey, the Chief Medical Officer at Biohax International, describes the technology as "a secure way of ensuring that a person's digital identity is linked to their physical identity," with a syringe injecting the chip directly between their thumb and forefinger to enable near-field communication. But what do Slashdot's readers think?
Would you let your employer microchip you?
An anonymous reader quote Zero Hedge: It is really happening. At one time, the idea that large numbers of people would willingly allow themselves to have microchips implanted into their hands seemed a bit crazy, but now it has become a reality. Thousands of tech enthusiasts all across Europe have already had microchips implanted, and now a Swedish company is working with very large global employers....
For security-obsessed corporations, this sort of technology can appear to have a lot of upside. If all of your employees are chipped, you will always know where they are, and you will always know who has access to sensitive areas or sensitive information. According to a top official from Biohax, the procedure to implant a chip takes "about two seconds...." Of course once this technology starts to be implemented, there will be some workers that will object. But if it comes down to a choice between getting the implant or losing their jobs, how many workers do you think will choose to become unemployed?
Engadget provides more examples, pointing out that in 2006 an Ohio surveillance firm had two employees in its secure data center implant RFIDs in their triceps, and that just last year 80 employees at Three Square Market in Wisconsin had chips implanted into their hands. Their article also hints that "no one's thinking about the inevitable DEF CON talk 'Chipped employees: Fun with attack vectors'"
Dr. Stewart Southey, the Chief Medical Officer at Biohax International, describes the technology as "a secure way of ensuring that a person's digital identity is linked to their physical identity," with a syringe injecting the chip directly between their thumb and forefinger to enable near-field communication. But what do Slashdot's readers think?
Would you let your employer microchip you?
I'd rather loose my job than be injected with a chip.
and attach a chainsaw to it.
[($)]
"Would you let your employer microchip you?"
No. And i would call my lawyer to see if i can negotiate some sort of compensation for being fired although i doubt i would get any. I probably would get another similarly paid job afterwards but after a long negotiation period. I would have to live and eventually finish that mortgage on savings between jobs.
my clients/employers would ever have any kind access to/make use of. I don't know why any employee/contractor would accept that as a terms of employment As for implants for my defective eyes and/or other senses, computer interfacing, nervous system interfacing I would definitely consider it when it looks advantageous and useful. But in reality I am probably to old (63) to get there. Just my 2 cents ;)
Real question: is "how the fuck is this actually better than biometrics?" Biometrics are relatively difficult to clone or spoof. A chip is just an ID card implanted in a person -- it can be cloned or otherwise spoofed more easily than the alternative.
As far as the employers, I agree with other posters' sentiments. Requiring employees to modify their bodies in such a way should be grounds for a massive lawsuit, or simply hanging from the nearest lamppost.
Those aren't "security measures" -- this is most like intrusive techbros being techbros. "Security" would involve biometric authentication, possibly multi-factor. This is no better than an ID card, other than the fact it's implanted -- it can still be cloned or otherwise spoofed.
First, chips are often obsoleted. The bits on HID proxy cards go up to handle attacks and business needs. I would not want something implanted where my next employer would demand version 1.0.0.0.1b of the chip and I have 1.0.0.1a.
Plus, look at IoT vendor reputation as a whole. I wouldn't trust these people to make a secure Wi-Fi light bulb that wouldn't get pwned. Would I trust them with something that I'm stuck with for life? Nope.
We already have biometrics. Why do we need some startup's chip, other than to give that startup a windfall profit?
You're a good boy!
About that vet appointment we scheduled for you next week. Be sure to wear a comfortable pair of pants.
Have gnu, will travel.
There is no way in the shady side of hell would I ever let my employer implant anything in my body.
No way in hell I'd let any employer do this, and if they fired me I'd be on the phone to the state labor board and an attorney within the hour.
To be more specific about this: If I was a current employee at ANY company for ANY amount of money and then later said they were going to do this, I'd tell them "hell, no!" and not budge, and being fired would get me litigious in short order. If I got a new job and was told they do this, I would tell them in no uncertain terms that I do NOT consent to having anything this invasive done to me for ANY reason whatsoever, and not budge. In either case there would be legal action.
Carrying an RFID badge around all the time? I've done that, it's not invasive at all. Inserting hardware into my flesh? Fuck you. Bottom line: Any company that trusts their employees so little that they feel the need to do this, I very likely wouldn't want anything to do with them. If it's optional? I might work for them, and I can't see demanding something like this of employees being legal.
Or, in this case, working.
1984 was meant to be fiction, so was Revelations...
Both are sickening.
The climate at Slashdot became so ill and sickening.
The big companies shows so much disregards to privacy that it is sickening.
Trolling here with such stupid obvious question here is as bad.
Do you really need to ask if ppl willfully agree with such invasion of their privacy, their own body, tainting, violating their own self?
Can't you figure how wrong this is of a privacy and individual integrity violation it is to implant an ID chip?
My grand-parents fought for their liberty, their rights against the Nazis who among other so terrible things they did, forced tattoo ID.
And now we have a young generation of idiots and mentally ill individuals asking if we are ok to be inserted with an ID microchip under our skin?
Léa Gris
Needs legislation -- require payment of $1 million+taxes to each employee required to accept that.
Also, that way it will be mostly directors and upper management that will have to receive the honour.
"Security" would involve biometric authentication
Biometrics (and this implant) is just a username, not a password.
It does not convey intent. If relying on just a username, you open the door for identity theft, you don't add security.
Security must always check whether the access is intended or not, and not make an assumption of "because who then what".
I do not have access to TFA but form the summary i understand they would be used as tracking devices. Not to replace or improve over biometrics then.
It is not my desire to work for an agent of the beast.
A little bit of crowd funding and a cheap removal and re-insertion tool could be developed. Could arrange to send my pet cockroach to work with a friend if I wanted a day off.
No.
TFS ends with: "But what do Slashdot's readers think?"
With 60 answers the trend is clear: The question is a troll.
Nobody seems to want a chip, is that a surprise? Of course not. But look at all the emotion the question generated. I guess that's money in the bank for Slashdot ... or Facebook, Twitter, etc. Get people riled up and somehow you profit.
I think it's a cheap shot. It brings out the worst in readers. Frankly it disgusts me. I'm here for news and insightful comments and this gives me neither.
...omphaloskepsis often...
I refuse to speak to anyone who wears a surveillance device ...
So you don't have a cellular phone, and neither does any of your friends?
would never work anywhere where there are cameras or anything else spying on me ...
Perhaps not knowingly, but how could you ever be certain there are no cameras?
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
Pets get chipped.
I am not my employer's pet.
"We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
I would tell them they can go fuck themselves.
Simple as that really.
demand lifetime healthcare if they want to implant one
Who are these people who think that this is a reasonable tradeoff for a job? There is no job and no amount of money on the planet that's worth it to me to do that for.
I don't respond to AC's.
It's also not exactly news, Germany was doing this sort of thing eighty years ago.
First, chips are often obsoleted. The bits on HID proxy cards go up to handle attacks and business needs. I would not want something implanted where my next employer would demand version 1.0.0.0.1b of the chip and I have 1.0.0.1a.
Plus, look at IoT vendor reputation as a whole. I wouldn't trust these people to make a secure Wi-Fi light bulb that wouldn't get pwned. Would I trust them with something that I'm stuck with for life? Nope.
We already have biometrics. Why do we need some startup's chip, other than to give that startup a windfall profit?
You're unemployed. Your savings is about all gone. Your bank called and they are sending John next weekend to repo your car if you don't make payments. Your wife is flirting with another dude who is employed and ready to leave. The bank also wants to know when you can hand over the keys to your home as you are now 90 days out and have a lawyer ready to take you to court and serve papers to get you homeless.
SHitty company A is here with a way out. Just sign and agree to this and all your problems will go away.
Not everyone is a hot shit top developer worth $175,000 a year and has the kind of bargaining power you possess in terms of employment. The average American Salary is still $58,000 if you believe that.
http://saveie6.com/
The good thing about the USA is that it has quite a lot of heavily-armed Christians who would LITERALLY consider the CEO and management of company A to be the spawn of the Devil.
As someone who lives in the bible southern belt of the country they worship money and greed as they are one with the Republican party down here because of abortion and gay marriage. They so fear the government as the devil they will worship that CEO thinking if they can get it implanted then maybe they too can be CEO someday if they work hard and vote conservative thanks to the tax cuts.
Sadly, I am not exaggerating either!!
http://saveie6.com/
How about asking us that question via a poll?
You do know Slashdot has polls, right?
#DeleteFacebook
Maybe you won't let employer Microchip you, but what if they asked to Atmel you?
#DeleteFacebook
There was a guy in Australia who decide to implant a chip inside himself a while back. (also here). Still have no idea what he was smoking when he changed his name to Meow-Ludo Disco Gamma Meow-Meow.
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
Sadly, I am not exaggerating either!!
No, you're stereotyping.
Don't believe anything you read on Zerohedge. It's basically the Daily Stormer with stock numbers and their articles are far more likely to be copypasta from Infowars than anything real.
You are welcome on my lawn.
False. That was tattoos, not implanted technology that didn't even exist in the 40s.
I'm morally and ethically opposed to companies requiring employees to have implants or any other mod done to their bodies.
Sadly, I am not exaggerating either!!
No, you're stereotyping.
I am. People in my state voted for Cruz on the belief Beto was a radical socialist and the Mexican caravan was going to take their jobs away. I lost faith in them and proud to call them idiots with no self awareness. In any other country I can not see how any sane rational person would choose Cruz or the racist governor of Florida whose party created the red tide due to environmental rollbacks in regulations in water run offs.
http://saveie6.com/
If only a RFID chip keeps you out of sensitive areas, sounds like it's time to start making a line of fashionable aluminum layered gloves...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
If the employees bark and wag enthusiastically, will they get a treat?
Look out when it comes time to downsize! I guess they'll just take the chipped pets^wemployees to the pound to be euthanized.
I live in the bible belt. Have all my life. You're not exaggerating, you're lying.
I was going to say, put the mandatory fitbit or heart monitor on a friend's dog.
You never expect irony, do you?
Want to be a professional wrestler? Visit www.iyfwrestling.com
@iyfwrestling
The weird thing is that I suspect most people here know that they are being exploited for their predictable knee-jerk responses--but they don't care.
Not the heart monitor. That wouldn't be good for your insurance.
False. Tattoos are implanted ink in this case used to communicate implanted data - technology that did exist in the 40's.
If I know an employer is even asking people to accept this, I won't apply there. If a current employer wanted to try it, I'd make it clear that I would resign immediately if they started doing it. If anyone attempted to chip me against my will, I would respond with violence, up to and including deadly force.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
I'm amazed any company would take that legal risk. It could be medical - a 1% higher cancer rate 20 years in the future among chipped employees. it could be personal data security when people discover that organizations other than their company are tracking them.
It just seems a huge risk, when biometrics may be as good. Surely no one is claiming that the chips are "impossible to hack".
A researcher did this years ago in the UK.
It looks like a great headline but I think you will find that the legal and regulatory framework in the UK will kill this stone-dead in actuality. It boggles the mind that legal and financial firms are considering this and that their HR Departments haven't killed it.
One - unless it's an approved medical implant, any company encouraging employees to do this is leaving itself wide open to legal sanction. We're not even touching whether the person getting the implant was given enough information, advice etc. Even if it IS an approved medical devices, can you imagine the hammering any company that "enforces" this rule will get in the courts ? and it doesn't have to be direct, all an employee needs is a suspicion that they were sacked due to refusing and it's game on.
[Note for our American cousins : UK employment law is rather large and is [rightly] heavily weighted in favour of the employee.]
Two - whilst it might be trendy for Shoreditch scooter-riding social-media professionals, Unions and Civil Liberties organisations will fight it tooth and nail - and the former has lots of financial and political clout. If there is a Labour government next, it's dead in the water and I can't see even the Tories going for this.
Three - whilst it might be fine for your dog and cat, the idea of someone putting an RFID implant in me positively Orwellian.
I'm gobsmacked that this came out of Sweden which is meant to be a highly progressive society.
It's in the UK - you get lifetime "free" [paid through taxation] healthcare anyway
I won't let any company chip me, especially since there still hasn't been a good medical study done to the longterm effects of wearing such a chip. It's already known that in not so few cases the chip is not staying at the place it was injected and starts running around your body..
Luckily no company can force you to submit yourself to such torture..
Hoofie didn't just suggest the NHS was a healthcare service did he?
It seems to be a bottomless pit that eats money, and doesn't return value. But that's getting way off topic.
They'd probably use the RFID chip to ID you, even if someone replaced yours with that of a psycho patient. So when you tell them the computer's wrong - they'll just lock you up. Nothing personal, just their job you know - returning you to the nut ward.
Tattoos have been a thing since way before the 40's
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
this is happening in Britain. Why do we seemingly accept these types of security measures uncritically, always without question whatsoever.
Because people are afraid.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
So, they didn't vote for Cruz then? To me outside of the US, it looks like you have to be mentally deficient to vote republican right now.
Waterfox - a Firefox fork with legacy extension support, security updates and better privacy by default.
Can the chip do anything special for me? Strength, extra sensory , etc? My dog has one. Ignorance is bliss. Would hope something better comes along Like a bracelet. But wearing outside of Aoya bit over doing it. Inside the office , well it's the investors Co.
NO!
But if it comes down to a choice between getting the implant or losing their jobs, how many workers do you think will choose to become unemployed?
I can't tell you how many, but I can tell you it will be your most valuable and difficult to replace staff that are first out the door.
There should never been a choice between (something invasive here) and losing your job. There should always be an alternative.
In this case, most of us carry an ID badge with an RFID. This performs the same task. Yes, the badge can be lost or stolen or loaned, whereas with an embedded chip these are a little harder. But I'm not sure I'd want to work for a company that insisted on this with an 'implant or lose your job' scenario. I would, in that case, walk out.
Now, I'm not against the chip-in-the-hand, per se. I can see some uses for it, especially if the chip can be used for other things (Android / Apple pay comes to mind, using it for banking, etc etc). Given an opportunity to get one installed, I would actually think about it, weigh it up, and made a decision, and that might be 'yes'.
I would have a huge problem with having it forced upon me, though. My body is my body. As a company, you don't have any rights to it. You hire me for my abilities, but you don't hire me to make any alteration to me, with or without my consent.
This fits into the "I disagree with your, but I'll still fight to allow you to have your own opinion" type category. Get an implant if you want, don't get it if you don't want, but I'll fight with you to ensure that it is a choice, and only your choice.
I spend a rather large amount of time earlier this year looking at just this for an assignment, so I'm reasonably up to speed on the idea of biometric chips. The only upside to an embedded RFID chip is that it's much harder to lose your card or leave it at home. The downsides are massive:
* RFID chips are a health risk - they've been known to cause cancers in rats since 1996, and there is evidence of increased cancer risks in large animals too, such as dogs and cats. That's a risk in itself. They also block you from having an MRI scan in the future.
* They are hard to lose, but very easy to clone. Once your chip has been cloned you need surgery to change the password!
* If the idea takes off, where you do put different RFID chips around your body so they don't clash, or does there need to be a global standard? Do employees need to have the chips removed when they leave the country
* You can't remove your staff pass. Ideally, you only wear your staff pass in the office, so people outside the office can't easily copy/clone it. Try taking the RFID chip off on a daily basis...
* Companies are already banned from forcing implants on their staff in some states - California and Georgia come to mind.
And this is all before employees turn around and tell employers to go screw themselves over being permanently tagged and scarred by their employer, who can now keep tabs on them after leaving emplyoment...
Even Diablo fans, but you wouldn't know it..
No, just no....
Those aren't "security measures" -- this is most like intrusive techbros being techbros. "Security" would involve biometric authentication, possibly multi-factor.
^ Nail on the head! I'll just add: multi-factor should be different factors - something you have, something you know, and, if truly paranoid, something you 'are'.
This is no better than an ID card, other than the fact it's implanted -- it can still be cloned or otherwise spoofed.
Well, you can't inadvertently lose it or have it physically stolen, so in that sense it's better.
It is, however, worse in the sense that it will likely instill a false sense of security, while still being vulnerable to being cloned or spoofed.
Don't forget to wear a Faraday glove whenever you aren't actively using the implant.
Dude. Lucifer could run as a republican and Jesus as a Democrat and the white southern evangelicals will vote for Lucifer because he has an R next to his name.
Yes call me a bigot but the last 2 election cycles and schools that teach creationism here say I am right.
http://saveie6.com/
This seems like terrible operational security to me. It's usually harder to figure out people's daily operations...
The amount of ignorant trash coming out of Britain these days is nothing short of amazing.
Not a chance I'd tolerate this.
Because people are COWARDS. FTFY.
First, chips are often obsoleted.
NFC chips functionally have not changed. There's nothing to obsolete.
Plus, look at IoT vendor reputation as a whole.
The IoT vendor reputation is a bit different when providing business products as they have for a good 20 years before the acronym IoT started describing their model. This isn't some cheap Chinese made internet connected flusher on your toilet.
We already have biometrics.
Biometrics are a completely different part of the security equation, and despite ID cards (along with these chips) being fundamentally insecure they have a major advantage over biometrics, they can be altered if compromised.
The only chips that go in my body are potato!
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
You'll get trapped and GPS collared.
Have gnu, will travel.
The average American Salary is still $58,000 if you believe that.
The average (mean) net compensation: $48k
The median net compensation: $32k
Source: https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/...
Paul Revere existed before the 40s, but not during the 40s. Just saying.
To me outside of the US, it looks like you have to be mentally deficient to vote republican right now.
If all I had to inform me was the main-stream media, I'd think the same thing, too.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
Technically, he still did. he was just really really really dead.
It doesn't matter who's doing the informing, they aren't lying about what laws trump and the republicans keep trying to pass or the continuous asinine things they keep saying.
Waterfox - a Firefox fork with legacy extension support, security updates and better privacy by default.
You can definitely have it stolen. It'll just be noticed quicker that it's gone, hopefully.
An implant is "something you have" not "something you are". Like a badge or a key.
If it is properly designed, you can't clone these chips, and what they contain is a secret. You can, however, change them, transfer them, etc... even though the form factor makes it more difficult than usual.
It is the opposite of biometrics, which you can't change or transfer, but they are not secret.
The issue is not about intent. The situation is the same with a keypad, RFID reader or a fingerprint scanner. If you enter the code/put your hand one the reader/put your finger on the scanner, you show your intent. The issue is about the fact that neither a fingerprint nor a username are secrets. The private key inside the implanted chip is.
If this is happening, THEY can be the "loser" as well -- seeking validation outside of a relationship due to low self-esteem.
This sets a bad precedent.
If we accept a precedent that states a person's employability is contingent upon their willingness to give up bodily autonomy - e.g., bodily autonomy becomes contractable - then a whole host of other regulatory behaviors become permissible.
Drug testing any time? Check
Contraception/abortion regs (either mandating or denying the right to): Check
Location checks (e.g., RFID GPS tracking)? Check
I'll wear an RFID badge and use basic biometrics (fingerprint scan or retinal scan) coupled with a passcode, because I can put the badge down.
But it seems excessive to be unable to let a person have time away from monitoring....private time and family time, you know?
"Truth is what works" -- William James "It works!!" -- o-dark-AM comment
If you enter the code/put your hand one the reader/put your finger on the scanner, you show your intent.
Yes, no and no. The latter two does not show intent, only credentials.
If I knock you unconscious, I can still open your phone with a fingerprint reader. However, if it's locked with a code, I can't.
If they make this a requirement -- this will be a deal-breaker for me... I'll quit.
Because people are COWARDS. FTFY.
Well, that too.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
You obviously know nothing about the NHS - the idea that anyone can find a placement in a mental health unit is laughable.
I used to live next door to a Hospital. Once found a young woman politely asking the way to the duck pond across the road so she could kill herself [seriously]. My wife and I persuaded her to follow us back to the secure Mental Health ward. She had just walked out. When my wife [who was a Senior Nurse at said hospital] went somewhat off her tree at the staff, they didn't give a toss.
Not the first time that happened as well - a Kindergarten is more secure.
I'd rather loose my job than be injected with a chip.
Since at least the 1970s I've been refusing to give my SS # to anybody who didn't have a legal authorization to demand it (i.e. banks, lenders, employers, tax preparers, etc.) If you haven't done this you have NO idea how hard it was to deal on those terms with health insurers, hospitals, and utilities in those decades.
So an implanted chip that gives out such an ID number to any radio requester? It is to laugh.
(Or cry.)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way