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."

Comments

Kids nowadays

[zamboni1138]

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.

Re:Kids nowadays

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Re:Kids nowadays

[Darinbob]

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

Implanted before there was a reason to...

[Bobrick]

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.

Have a little respect

[SuperKendall]

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

Re:A four digit PIN is just stupid

[Cmdln Daco]

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

Don't understand

[fluffernutter]

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

Re:Don't understand

[thegarbz]

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.

I laughed first, but now I’ve changed my min

[93 Escort Wagon]

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.

Re:NFC, technical

[Jane Q. Public]

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.

Re:I laughed first, but now I’ve changed my

[kalieaire]

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.

Drunk?

[houghi]

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.

Alternate advice

[stealth_finger]

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.

Nobody needs a year

[nospam007]

...to check 10.000 possibiities.