Identity That’s Skin-deep: The Intrigue Of Implanting RFID Chips In People

What if, instead of keeping important information on your phone or a card, that information was kept on a small chip implanted under your skin?

Using radio frequency identification (RFID) chips, or tags, this way is not a new idea. Such devices are already used to track inventory, and it’s common for pets to have chips implanted.

But now as many as 50,000 people worldwide have decided to have them implanted in themselves for various uses, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

Proponents cited by the WSJ touted the chips’ simplicity and efficiency: Because they’re implanted in a person’s body, they’re virtually impossible to lose.

One person said he has multiple tags embedded in his arm. One opens his apartment door, another his office’s parking gate, and another contains business contact information, the report said.

Other uses floated by the WSJ include holding important medical information the way some people have necklaces or bracelets with instructions for medical personnel, or holding identifying information that airline passengers can use to board flights.

It’s that notion that RFID chips can be a secure identifier that has drawn some employers’ attention. Early last year, a Swedish office building gained some notoriety for offering to have employees who worked in the building tagged for easier entrance and to use various office functions, such as the photocopier, BBC News reported.

In that instance, employees were given a choice in the matter, but BBC News added that the project’s backers believe we’re not far from the day when such tagging will be mandatory for many people.

Over the years several state governments have addressed the issue of mandatory implants, and four of them — California, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin — prohibit mandatory RFID chips, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The obvious fear that comes to mind with mandatory tagging is that the information accessible through the chips could fall into the wrong hands, but proponents have answers for that.

Amal Graafstra told Fortune that the RFID chips he’s had implanted can’t be read from farther away than a few inches. Moreover, he said, the data in his chips would be opaque to anyone who happened to stumble across it, saying, “For any kind of attack, they would have to also know me and where I live and want to gain access to the things I’ve enabled. There are easier ways to do that, like breaking into my window.”

Source: Upstart Business Journal, David A. Arnott
Photo: An RFID chip next to a 1 euro coin. (“RFID tag and 1 euro” by Dana Gordon. Used under Creative Commons BY 2.0 license.) Dana Gordon | CC BY 2.0 https://flic.kr/p/4ka3Jt