Some Swedish workers are getting microchips implanted in hands
HOW WOULD you feel about having a microchip implanted in your hand to make things more convenient at work?
In Sweden, some workers are actually volunteering to do just that, electing to have a chip the size of a grain of rice implanted in their bodies to help them unlock doors, operate printers, open storage lockers and even buy smoothies with the wave of their hand, according to an Associated Press report.
Epicenter, a digital hub in Stockholm that houses more than 300 start-ups and innovation labs for larger companies, has made the implanted chip available to its own workers and to member organisations in recent years, a biohacking experiment in simplicity that’s been embraced by some early adopters associated with the centre but represents a technological frontier sure to make other people shudder.
“It’s very early to try to depict where this is going,” said Patrick Mesterton, co-founder and CEO of Epicenter, in an interview with The Washington Post.
“We’re just doing this because it’s interesting. We want to play around with technology.”
Mesterton said about 75 of the 2,000 people who work for the organisations housed at Epicenter had elected to have the chip implanted, including six of his 12 employees. Another 75 people who have no direct affiliation with Epicenter, but have attended open events at the facility, have chosen to be chipped out of their own interest.
The technology also does not allow for any kind of monitoring, he said.
It “doesn’t even carry that ability. It’s exactly the same as if you would use a single key card,” he said. Known as a “passive chip,” it has no built-in power supply and can’t send signals about its position.
“If a person is worried about being traced, your mobile phone or Internet search history poses a bigger threat than the RFID chip we use ever would do,” Mesterton said in an email. — Washington Post