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Wisconsin Company Offers To Implant Chips In Its Employees

M

maxcriden

Member
12653576-chip-implant-to-be-used-by-32m_custom-2c716ba95bbc4f3d68ff9b8430473f47430fcfdc-s700-c85.png


A Wisconsin company is offering to implant tiny radio-frequency chips in its employees – and it says they are lining up for the technology.

The idea is a controversial one, confronting issues at the intersection of ethics and technology by essentially turning bodies into bar codes. Three Square Market, also called 32M, says it is the first U.S. company to provide the technology to its employees.

The company manufactures self-service "micro markets" for office break rooms. It said in a press release that obtaining a chip is optional, but expects that about 50 employees will take part.

Employees who have the rice-grain-sized RFID chip implanted between their thumb and forefinger can then use it "to make purchases in their break room micro market, open doors, login to computers, use the copy machine," 32M said.

CEO Todd Westby said that the company believes the technology will soon be ubiquitous:

"We foresee the use of RFID technology to drive everything from making purchases in our office break room market, opening doors, use of copy machines, logging into our office computers, unlocking phones, sharing business cards, storing medical/health information, and used as payment at other RFID terminals. Eventually, this technology will become standardized allowing you to use this as your passport, public transit, all purchasing opportunities, etc."
Click to expand...

The company is immediately facing questions about safety and privacy – for example, whether the technology could be used in invasive ways, like tracing employee whereabouts and monitoring the length of breaks.

"The chip is not trackable and only contains information you choose to associate with it," the company said in a Q and A. "This chip does not have GPS capabilities." It added that the device has been FDA-approved for some 13 years.
Click to expand...

The employees themselves appear to be responding positively. For example, software engineer Sam Bengtson told The New York Times that "it was pretty much 100 percent yes right from the get-go for me. ...In the next five to 10 years, this is going to be something that isn't scoffed at so much, or is more normal. So I like to jump on the bandwagon with these kind of things early, just to say that I have it."

For employees not prepared to implant a chip in their bodies, the company is offering two other options – the same technology, placed in a wristband or a ring.
Click to expand...

32M said that the data on the chip is "encrypted." However, Alessandro Acquisti, a professor of information technology and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University, told that Times that encrypted is "a pretty vague term ... which could include anything from a truly secure product to something that is easily hackable."
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http://www.npr.org/2017/07/25/53926...ns-to-start-implanting-chips-in-its-employees

Related:

'Body Hacking' Movement Rises Ahead Of Moral Answers

Op-Ed: Body Hacking Harkens Back To Our 'Modern' Beginnings
 
G

GhostTrick

Banned
"implant"
Why not just make it into a ring or glove or patch or whatever that wouldn't require you to implant something ?
 
W

Wensih

Member
If I were to ever get a chip implanted in me, it certainly wouldn't be part of an employment package. My swipe card will do me just fine.
 
S

Somnid

Member
I mean I guess if this is what the do they need to dog food it, but most companies I know just give you the food for free, there's no point in scanning anything. I think that is the slightly more troubling part, the proposed use case is just stupid. I do think little skin NFC tags might be useful for some, but at least now it's barely more useful than a phone. Perhaps if it was used in conjunction with your home/car door or something so you could never get locked out people might find it more appealing.
 
J

jph139

Member
I'm all about cybernetics and augmentations and transhumanism and all... but it's definitely not something I'd want to be an early adopter for.
 
F

forgrim

Member
FreezeSSC said:
God not this article.... You know how many idiots think this is the "mark of the beast" on Facebook?
Click to expand...

Literally is written in the bible, and common belief is the mark of the beast will be a bar code...so i can see why religious people would go crazy about it
 
A

Air

Banned
Lmao. Over my dead body.

I don't understand why people would do that or why the employer can't give them some other means to access the same functionality with their phone, a card, a ring or any of the other billion kinds of accessories out there
 
S

slit

Member
Employees who have the rice-grain-sized RFID chip implanted between their thumb and forefinger can then use it "to make purchases in their break room micro market, open doors, login to computers, use the copy machine," 32M said.
Click to expand...

That's not enough of an incentive to do that. You have to be pretty stupid to allow that just so you can buy snacks in the break room more quickly.
 
I

Intheflorsh

Banned
"Your RFID chip shows you left your cubicle 15 minutes before the end of the work day, care to explain?"

The future is going to suck.
 
F

FreezeSSC

Member
cackhyena said:
I can see religious people equating this to the beginning of the end times.
Click to expand...

The irony of them thinking this is the end times and also voting in Trump as president and thinking he's fantastic is too much for me, doesn't that make Trump the Antichrist?
 
A

Abstrusity

Member
witness said:
Nope, fuck that. Never. What's wrong with a goddamn badge anyway?
Click to expand...
People forget their badge and then others, wanting to be nice, let people in.

Now imagine someone who "forgot their badge" when really, they were someone with ill intent. You might not let them in, but can you trust your Coworkers to be that observant? No. You can't even trust your coworkers to change the coffee filter.
Badges don't work very well, all told. But then, neither would this, it'll just stop people who get it from being able to forget their badge.
 
C

cackhyena

Member
lightskintwin said:
Surely there's enough people with Christian upbringing on this board to know what you meant.

Like me for example.
Click to expand...

I've just come across so many people that don't connect the dots (which makes sense) even if they have some kind of knowledge of writings about the end times.

FreezeSSC said:
The irony of them thinking this is the end times and also voting in Trump as president and thinking he's fantastic is too much for me, doesn't that make Trump the Antichrist?
Click to expand...

Naw, because supposedly the antichrist will come from a specific region of the world. America isn't it. But Trump could be the forebearer. I'll bet in some eyes, they'd welcome that scenario. It's all an inevitability anyway, right?
 
A

AndyD

aka andydumi
GhostTrick said:
"implant"
Why not just make it into a ring or glove or patch or whatever that wouldn't require you to implant something ?
Click to expand...

You could. The point is that you don't have to bring something else along that you might forget, like a ring or glove or wallet.
 
K

Kenstar

Member
I love how people think THIS is the mark of the beast and not SSN's, you know, the things everyone is assigned at birth and what you need to live a life in a 1st world country and without which you cannot get a job, house, credit, etc
 
C

cackhyena

Member
Kenstar said:
I love how people think THIS is the mark of the beast and not SSN's, you know, the things everyone is assigned at birth and what you need to live a life in a 1st world country and without which you cannot get a job, house, credit, etc
Click to expand...
SSNs were the start of it all.
 
C

CrazyDude

Member
Kenstar said:
I love how people think THIS is the mark of the beast and not SSN's, you know, the things everyone is assigned at birth and what you need to live a life in a 1st world country and without which you cannot get a job, house, credit, etc
Click to expand...

People did think that when SSN fist started,
 
D

DrArchon

Member
Probably makes it more likely for people not to quit and look for better jobs. Sunk cost kind of deal.

"Well this job sucks. Sure would be nice to do something else, but I already got this fucking chip implanted in me so I might as well tough it out."
 
W

watershed

Banned
I'm strongly opposed but fear this will become the norm soon anyways for tons of companies. It's even scarier that people are receptive to the idea. New technology is so fascinating to people. If it isn't illegal, soon this kind of implant will become required for some workplaces. Thank god this is voluntary and has an equally functioning wrist band or ring. It's even scary to think that companies will incentivize employee implants with perks.
 
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