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From The Guardian:
Britain's biggest employer organisation and main trade union body have sounded the alarm over the prospect of British companies implanting staff with microchips to improve security.
UK firm BioTeq, which offers the implants to businesses and individuals, has already fitted 150 implants in the UK.
The tiny chips, implanted in the flesh between the thumb and forefinger, are similar to those for pets. They enable people to open their front door, access their office or start their car with a wave of their hand, and can also store medical data.
[...] Steven Northam, the founder and owner of Hampshire-based BioTeq, told the Guardian that most of its 150 implants have been for individuals, while some financial and engineering firms have also had the chips implanted in their staff.
BioTeq has also implanted them in employees of a bank testing the technology, and has shipped them to Spain, France, Germany, Japan and China.
We recently covered similar technology being used in Sweden but the idea of implanting a tracking chip in a human for identification is nothing new.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 13 2018, @11:16AM (3 children)
It's easier to keep your access cards in faraday sleeves which make it harder for hackers to do relay attacks on them. Not so convenient to do that with body implants.
For places where security really matters, you'd have people entering pins or similar, with guards and cameras around to discourage people from trying anything strange...
For other places security doesn't really matter, just the appearance of security to satisfy regulators, auditors etc.
2) It's easier to change your card and get a different potentially incompatible one from a different vendor whenever you change employers.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by acid andy on Tuesday November 13 2018, @01:11PM (2 children)
Yeah, it's the worst gimmick ever. I can imagine managers will just think the flashy tech is cool and not care about the human rights angle at all. About the only way it improves security is it stops someone lending their card to someone else, or, even more unlikely, someone stealing or finding it and knowing where to use it and it not being canceled before they get a chance to exploit it. If the employee is going to lend their access card to someone untrustworthy then there are bigger problems because that employee will probably find other ways to compromise security. Anyway, if the access system is anything like the ones I've seen, people will still be able to piggy-back into the building by following an employee quickly through the door.
Also, will the employer pay for removal of the chip when the employee quits or is fired? If not, how many such chips will accumulate under someone's skin over the course of their lifetime?
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Tuesday November 13 2018, @01:53PM (1 child)
Who pays when the chip fails? Who pays when the part time no bennies no insurance workers get MRSA from the implant or after the removal?
If corporate anti-industrial espionage regulations prevent people with walmart tags from working at / shopping at Target and vice versa... I suspect you'll see tags used not as ID cards but as generic tags... this tag class means someone had a DUI once in their life and the tag reader at the bar will prevent sales. Or the tag reader at church, or the voting registration office.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday November 13 2018, @03:38PM
We will see that. We already do see that to an extent, with convicted felons being barred from voting. We have recently seen people blacklisted from posting on social media. People have been fired for social media posts; others have been denied employment because of inappropriate photos when they were young at parties.
The tendrils of control are all around us. They are not even as bad as they will become, as scientists master control of genomes and as AI and robotics improve. It would be super if they perfected faster-than-light travel first, so the freedom-minded can light out for the new frontier.
Washington DC delenda est.