Chip implant gets cash under your skin

[Katsuya]

By Declan McCullagh
CNET News.com
November 25, 2003, 9:32 AM PT

-data-
Radio frequency identification tags aren't just for pallets of goods in supermarkets anymore.

Applied Digital Solutions of Palm Beach, Fla., is hoping that Americans can be persuaded to implant RFID chips under their skin to identify themselves when going to a cash machine or in place of using a credit card. The surgical procedure, which is performed with local anesthetic, embeds a 12-by-2.1mm RFID tag in the flesh of a human arm.

ADS Chief Executive Scott Silverman, in a speech at the ID World 2003 conference in Paris last Friday, said his company had developed a "VeriPay" RFID technology and was hoping to find partners in financial services firms.





Matthew Cossolotto, a spokesman for ADS who says he's been "chipped," argues that competing proposals to embed RFID tags in key fobs or cards were flawed. "If you lose the RFID key fob or if it's stolen, someone else could use it and have access to your important accounts," Cossolotto said. "VeriPay solves that problem. It's subdermal and very difficult to lose. You don't leave it sitting in the backseat of the taxi."

RFID tags are miniscule microchips, which some manufacturers have managed to shrink to half the size of a grain of sand. They listen for a radio query and respond by transmitting a unique ID code, typically a 64-bit identifier yielding about 18 thousand trillion possible values. Most RFID tags have no batteries. They use the power from the initial radio signal to transmit their response.

When embedded in human bodies, RFID tags raise unique security concerns. First, because they broadcast their ID number, a thief could rig up his or her own device to intercept and then rebroadcast the signal to an automatic teller machine. Second, sufficiently dedicated thieves may try to slice the tags out of their victims.

"We do hear concerns about this from a privacy point of view," Cossolotto said. "Obviously, the company wants to do all it can to protect privacy. If you don't want it anymore...you can go to a doctor and have it removed. It's not something I would recommend people do at home. I call it an opt-out feature."

Chris Hoofnagle, a lawyer at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said implanted RFID tags cause an additional worry. "When your bank card is compromised, all you have to do is make a call to the issuer," Hoofnagle said. "In this case, you have to make a call to a surgeon.

"It doesn't make sense to go from a card, which is controlled by an individual, to a chip, which you cannot control."

ADS shares have slid from a high of about $12 in 2000 to 40 cents, and the company is now fighting to stay listed on the Nasdaq. "Our common stock did not regain the minimum bid price requirement and on Oct. 28, 2003, the Nasdaq Stock Market informed us by letter that our securities would be delisted from the SmallCap," ADS said in a Nov. 14 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company also warned that its implantable microchips are manufactured solely by Raytheon without a "formal written agreement," and any price increases or supply disruptions would have serious negative consequences.

MasterCard has been testing an RFID technology called PayPass. It looks like any other credit card but is outfitted with an RFID tag that lets it be read by a receiver instead of scanned through a magnetic stripe. "We're certainly looking at designs like key fobs," MasterCard Vice President Art Kranzley told USA Today last week. "It could be in a pen or a pair of earrings. Ultimately, it could be embedded in anything--someday, maybe even under the skin."

ADS is running a special promotion, urging Americans to "get chipped." The first 100,000 people to sign up will receive a $50 discount.
-data-

[Boltzmann]

I would not take it.

1. I don't want to robers wanting to cut me and steal the stupid chip.

2. I don't want a chip broadcasting my location, so everyone can see where I am.

It's a rather bad idea, at least in our current stage of technological development. Once bionical implants become commonplace it will be more attractive (for instance, implanting a chip in a bionic arm).

__________________
"Let be be finale of seem.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream."
- Wallace Stevens

Me on Twitter

[Omega]

No thanks.
I'm already a survivor from the chipset control invasion.. Those damned agents..

__________________
.:[ This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time ]:.
.:[ I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last]:.

[Noxious Ninja]

I'm paranoid enough already, thanks.

__________________
09 f9 11 02 9d 74 e3 5b d8 41 56 c5 63 56 88 c0

[almighty bob]

america: land of the free.... ironic isnt it?

[w3_tennis_duran]

how bout a chip that attaches to your penus and blinks when you get a woody

__________________
i fight like a girl!

[vivrantpig]

thats the dumbest idea i ever heard now when ppl rob u. instead of taking ur wallet they gun cut u open and take ur chip.

__________________
"...we stand strong, even in time of crisis, when our man passed on, we still marched on, Dignified, walkin with our heads up high, Soldiers until the day that we die..."
-D.I.T.C
"Stand Stong"

[Regulus]

I dont know about this.......Isnt this coming a little fast anyway? It all seems unsafe to me.......

__________________
SEGA owns you

http://www.exemu.net

[Takmadeus]

hmmmm seems like an idea stolen from demolition man and Metal gear solid

it would work under other circumstances (security cards, etc) but for account stuff, it would not be so good, thieves these days dare to do all sorts of stuff, and I don't want to be ripped apart

besides, the less they know about me, the best (at least for now)

__________________

Made with the GIMP

[op3n_skill]

Hmm, wonders if it can get me girls....

__________________
Member of "The Pessimistics Club"

[fox-]

I wonder what george orwell would think.

[Demigod]

I think it can be feasible, as long as people's privacy is maintained. There should be an option to turn the chip off or have it relay null information (and control of this should be left solely to the implantee). They should also implant them in random places on the body so it'll be difficult to steal. Sure people can just kill or knock-out the person and search the body but then again people can do that now as well.

__________________
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Mobo: Intel DX48BT2 Memory: 4096 MB PC10600 DDR3 Videocard: PNY Geforce 9800 GX2 Soundcard: On-board SigmaTel High Definition Audio Hard drive: 120 GB OCZ RevoDrive PCI-E SSD & 1 TB Hitachi Optical drive: LG GGW-H20L (2x BD-R DL) PSU: Nexus 1000 Watt PSU OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit)

Proud millionaire folder of the NGEmu folding team

[DarkAurora]

Enough of my privacy has already been taken away with the Patriot Act; I don't need a tracking chip in my chin, kthx.