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How I Got Locked Out of the Chip Implanted In My Hand (vice.com)

Motherboard staff writer Daniel Oberhaus writes: If I had a single piece of advice for anyone thinking about getting an NFC chip implant it would be to do it sober.... [A]t the urging of everyone at the implant station, the first thing I did with my implant was secure it with a four-digit pin. I hadn't decided what sort of data I wanted to put on the chip, but I sure as hell didn't want someone else to write to my chip first and potentially lock me out. I chose the same pin that I used for my phone so I wouldn't forget it in the morning -- or at least, I thought I did.... I spent most of my first day as a cyborg desperately cycling through the various pin possibilities that made it impossible for me to unlock the NFC chip in my hand and add data to it.
He remained locked out of his own implanted microchip for over a year. But even when he regained access, "a part of me wants to leave it blank. After a year of living with a totally useless NFC implant, I kind of started to like it.

"That small, almost imperceptible little bump on my left hand was a constant reminder that even the most sophisticated and fool-proof technologies are no match for human incompetence."

49 of 106 comments (clear)

  1. A chainsaw is more practical. by wolfheart111 · · Score: 1

    And the chicks would love it. :)

    --
    [($)]
  2. Kids nowadays by zamboni1138 · · Score: 5, Informative

    So the new hip cool thing is to get drunk (glad to see that hasn't changed) and go down to the local "implant station" and have an "NFC chip" (whatever that is) injected into your body?

    Kids nowadays are nuts.

    1. Re:Kids nowadays by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      He got drunk and went down to the local "font station"

    2. Re:Kids nowadays by thewolfkin · · Score: 1

      come on man this is a tech site "news for nerds" NFC isn't that new or complicated or esoteric. It's part of the technology that lets you touch phones together to transfer pictures or contact information. Many (if not most) phones have this. It's been around for a long time, it's how you use your phone to pay for things. I think it might be how credit cards that let you tap to pay work. That's basically what it is. You can program it to interface with other things but you can use it to turn your hand into a virtual business card. Tap someone's phone and they get your contact info. Tap the credit card scanner and you can pay for things. But dude people have been hyping up NFC since 2012 and it's still around six years later. in tech years it should have college ready children by now. It's not unreasonable to expect a reader here to know what it is.

      --
      Just another second banana
    3. Re:Kids nowadays by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Some millenial is jealous. And probably didn't even know it was possible.

    4. Re:Kids nowadays by AC-x · · Score: 1

      (Cyberpunk 2077 logo)

    5. Re:Kids nowadays by Darinbob · · Score: 2

      But isn't that the first feature everyone turns off?

    6. Re:Kids nowadays by antdude · · Score: 1

      One of my online friends isn't a child. He's over 40 years old and got this NFC chip. I wonder how many older people have these implants.

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    7. Re:Kids nowadays by kalieaire · · Score: 1

      they had these things available at the "biohacking" village at defcon. soooo it wouldn't be surprising they did this drunk AF..

      ..among other things.

    8. Re:Kids nowadays by Memnos · · Score: 1

      I'd be careful about saying that "one of" your online friends isn't a child.

      --
      I don't trust atoms -- they make up stuff.
    9. Re:Kids nowadays by antdude · · Score: 1

      Ha. I'm old and people call me a child. In fact, I look that young too.

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    10. Re: Kids nowadays by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      it's how you use your phone to pay for things

      Being familiar with how it functions hardly equates to being dumb enough to want to use it.

      Geez.

    11. Re:Kids nowadays by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Kids nowadays are nuts.

      Yeah but they can hide it. It could be worse, they could come home with a tattoo.

    12. Re:Kids nowadays by thewolfkin · · Score: 1

      But isn't that the first feature everyone turns off?

      Doubt it. But to be fair potentially that may be the case. For me NFC doesn't drain that much battery enough for me to care and I use it regularly though not often. Easier to keep it on than turn it off.

      --
      Just another second banana
    13. Re: Kids nowadays by thewolfkin · · Score: 1

      it's how you use your phone to pay for things

      Being familiar with how it functions hardly equates to being dumb enough to want to use it.

      Geez.

      But if you read back to the OP

      an "NFC chip" (whatever that is)

      being familiar with how if functions is what we're talking about. We're not debating whether it's useful or fun. My point is that most people know enough about NFC to be able to understand "NFC chip".

      --
      Just another second banana
  3. A four digit PIN is just stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Without a limit on the number of unlock attempts, someone else can still eventually access the chip (and lock you out until you've managed to break in again). With a limit on the number of unlock attempts however, there is an obvious denial of service attack opportunity. Either way you can be locked out of your own RFID chip. Stupid.

    1. Re:A four digit PIN is just stupid by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 3

      Everybody locked out for the weekend sounds like a nice relaxing weekend off for everybody.

    2. Re:A four digit PIN is just stupid by Highdude702 · · Score: 1

      Yea sounded to me like the guy did his fellow ex employees a favor...

  4. Implanted before there was a reason to... by Bobrick · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So this guy got a chip implanted in his hand -before- having any idea what he would do with it... I like how he talks about human incompetence, though plain old stupidity seems more at play here.

    1. Re:Implanted before there was a reason to... by alvinrod · · Score: 1

      What were you expecting? This guy sounds like a tech journalist who has no technology background or interest in doing deep dives into hardware so he has to cover the human side of it. Since he’s a tech journalist with no real technical ability, it pretty much means he’s fallen so far down the rung of respectable journalism positions you probably shouldn’t expect much. So of course he’s going to chase down any new fad, since that’s all he’s got. About the only lower you can get is video game journalist

    2. Re:Implanted before there was a reason to... by Bobrick · · Score: 1

      Have you seen them FOLDABLE SCREENS? Check this out!

  5. Have a little respect by SuperKendall · · Score: 2

    Hey man, having read the Discworld novels that is obviously DEATH talking there, you might not want to throw so much shade.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Have a little respect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Nonsense. Death talks in small caps, not mono-spaced.

  6. Don't understand by fluffernutter · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How is it legal for a company to compel employees to modify their bodies?

    --
    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    1. Re:Don't understand by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      How is it legal for a company to compel employees to modify their bodies?

      That makes two of us. I for example don't understand how your brain worked to produce that though in response to this article.

    2. Re:Don't understand by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      I'm talking about the ID in the hand, on an ID in the hand article. Are people being compensated for putting this ID in at least? I couldn't see a business legally being able to make you get a penis peiracing as a requirement to hold a job, how are they compelling people to be injected with these things?

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    3. Re:Don't understand by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      I'm talking about the ID in the hand, on an ID in the hand article. Are people being compensated for putting this ID in at least? I couldn't see a business legally being able to make you get a penis peiracing as a requirement to hold a job, how are they compelling people to be injected with these things?

      You are most definitely not commenting on the article or summary you think you're commenting on. But to answer your question very directly: No the person did not get compensated, he actually paid for it out of his own money prompted by nothing other than alcohol, drunk friends, and las vegas.

      Not sure if you need to RTFA, RTFS or just RTF Headline ;-)

  7. I laughed first, but now I’ve changed my min by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 2

    We should cut this guy a little slack. Yes, it was a dumb thing to do in the first place - but he did own up to it, which may deter someone else from doing the same stupid thing. I expect a lot of people who found themselves in this situation would just clam up and hope no one found out.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  8. Re:Ahem by Fly+Swatter · · Score: 1

    Please don't give companies ideas.

  9. Re:NFC, technical by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's Near Field Communication, not "coupling".

    And its name is a misnomer, since anything that works over RF can be accessed at an arbitrary distance, given a large enough antenna and the proper electronics.

    NFC was cracked by Christopher Siobhan, with equipment that could read NFC information at a distance from cards equipped with the technology, with $200 worth of hardware.

    BEFORE it was ever widely adopted or included in smartphones. Only 1 or maybe 2 phone models advertised it as a feature at the time. And it wasn't yet a common feature of debit or credit cards.

  10. Slashdot's two headlines: by Alyks · · Score: 1

    >More Companies Plan To Implant Microchips Into Their Employees' Hands >How I Got Locked Out of the Chip Implanted In My Hand

    1. Re:Slashdot's two headlines: by Calydor · · Score: 1

      Pretty sure it was deliberate.

      On a side-note, time to rename NFC to No Fucking Clue.

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
  11. Re:I laughed first, but now I’ve changed my by kalieaire · · Score: 2

    I'm just gonna call it what it is, implanting under the influence (IUI).

    There're people who end up drinking, driving, killing people, and say "wow, i didn't know that could happen", can that be a legitimate excuse? Cut him some slack? No.  He posted his experience, he's going to get flack, and that's the end of it.  Come Monday morning, nobody is going to remember anyway, so roast him while you can.

  12. bigger issue by ra66itman · · Score: 1

    I see a bigger problem, after a few years of Companies, "chipping" employees, the goverment will come in and have a "free" safety program, where kids and newborns will be chipped,in case of being lost or needing to be id. currently thereare stories being tested .where you just walk in and walk out and NO cashiers. take it one step farther tracking at all stores. right now our smart phones know where we are at all times and some places use that info

    1. Re:bigger issue by currently_awake · · Score: 1

      I think implanted cellphones are more likely to be mandatory. NFC range is much too limited and too easily blocked for government tracking purposes.

  13. Re:tacking this on to things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    even stupid white people understand grammar better than you.

  14. Drunk? by houghi · · Score: 2

    I am all for doing anything to your body. You just have to be not drunk. This is coming from someone who, with a couple of friends, confinced a mate to get a tattoo a 05:00 during a night of heavy drinking. This was at a time when almost nobody had visible tattoos.

    The only thing that saved him was that the parlor was closing, not that the artist was refusing it.

    I am glad it did not work out and upset it was because of the wrong reason. I am sure there are enough who would refuse it, but apparently not enough.

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  15. Alternate advice by stealth_finger · · Score: 2

    If I had a single piece of advice for anyone thinking about getting an NFC chip implant it would be...don't. Just don't. Especially if it's for work.

    --
    Wanna buy a shirt?
    https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
    1. Re:Alternate advice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      What do you mean 'for work' ??

      You cant possibly be compelled to do this in any free country

    2. Re:Alternate advice by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Especially if it's for work.

      Why especially if it's for work? The criteria should not be if it's for work or not, it should be that *you* are in control of its data.

    3. Re:Alternate advice by stealth_finger · · Score: 1

      Especially if it's for work.

      Why especially if it's for work? The criteria should not be if it's for work or not, it should be that *you* are in control of its data.

      Privacy issues and all that aside because what happens when you change jobs? Who owns it? Are they going to want their chip back? Are the next company going to want to put their own chip in? There's literally no advantage over something you wear like an ID card other than it can't be lost and lot's of disadvantages before you even get to the 1984 stuff.

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    4. Re:Alternate advice by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Privacy issues and all that aside because what happens when you change jobs? Who owns it?

      Are you arguing or agreeing with me. As I said the only criteria is that *you* are in control. Before you talk about 1984 stuff it's worth remembering just how incredibly basic these devices are, how simple they are to modify, how universal their design is, and how short range this is.

      Even if you had one of these in your hand right now, you DO have far bigger concerns.

    5. Re:Alternate advice by stealth_finger · · Score: 1

      Well, if it's your device and it's your choice then that's fair enough I guess, up to you. But as an employer mandated tracking and access device, no way. I agree though there are way bigger actual problems than this largely hypothetical stuff. The technology exists but it's not likely it will implemented this way on a large scale, maybe the odd place or so that consider it a bit of a novelty.

      --
      Wanna buy a shirt?
      https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
  16. Tattoo the pin on his foot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Tattoo the pin code on his foot or ankle or the palm of his hand its the equivalent of the body mod sticky note.

  17. On becoming livestock by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Pets, livestock, and yes, slaves are marked or branded by their owners/masters.

    Resent being a "wage slave"? Then why take the leap to being an actual slave or cattle?

    I'm astonished that any human being with a shred of self-worth would ever allow themselves to be branded/tattood/chipped/etc. Might as well be castrated and have a big ring installed in your nose....oh, wait, I think there are people in San Francisco doing that to themselves already. Never mind. [sigh]

  18. Nobody needs a year by nospam007 · · Score: 2

    ...to check 10.000 possibiities.

  19. Not the mark of the beast by DrXym · · Score: 1
    More like the mark of an idiot.

    Use a card or some other token with NFC in it. If you move jobs or if technology advances you'll feel a lot less stupid than you will a useless chip permanently implanted in your skin.

  20. I found the problem by sootman · · Score: 1

    You thought that this new, cutting-edge technology would be "fool-proof"?

    You thought that any technology, *anywhere*, was "fool-proof"?

    Idiot.

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  21. Re:NFC, technical by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 1

    And its name is a misnomer, since anything that works over RF can be accessed at an arbitrary distance, given a large enough antenna and the proper electronics.

    Not necessarily. You also need:
      - An adequate signal to noise ratio.
      - A propagating wave.

    An evanescent wave - one that decays exponentially rather than propagating - doesn't launch energy on a non-return path and is drastically weak after a quarter wavelength or so. Examples include the field just above the surface of a material containing a beam that's totally-internally-reflecting from it. The idea of near field communication was to use that so devices could communicate if within a few inches and couldn't be tapped, even with fancy equipment, beyond a few feet.

    Even antennas that DO launch a propagating electromagnetic wave have an additional non-propagating near field that typically is comparable in energy density once you're within a quarter wavelength or so of the structure.

    Unfortunately, the implementation of NFC didn't use an evanescent-wave antenna. It used a magnetic coil - just as much a dipole wave-launcher as a similarly-scaled electrical dipole. The near field from that falls off inverse cube and it DOES launch a propagating wave that falls off inverse square. The coil is much smaller than a half-wavelength so the propagating wave is weak compared to the nearfield. Nevertheless: Oops!

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way