Companies start implanting microchips into workers' bodies
latimes.com
latimes.com
- Health complications, however rare [1], could arise from this.
- It sounds like microchips bond with your tissue. The implictations for removal should be obvious.
- They'll almost certainly need replacing, either due to failure or the technology becoming redundant.
- Far from being cool, early adopters are normalising the idea that employers can tag employees. I'm not OK with this.
That's even discounting the privacy issues:
- People you don't know will be able to scan you for a unique ID, without your consent.
- People will do so.
- Startups will emerge getting licensing deals to put NFC readers in public places and sell the data. And so on and so forth.
These things accomplish less than you can do with a phone. Which most of us never leave home without anyway. Or face recognition, or ID cards, or a pin attached to your coat/shoes.
[1] https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/FAQs/Pages/Microchipping-o... . Suggests 1 in 10,000 rate of adverse events. Suggest Epicenter gets a good lawyer ;)
Eh, not really. They stimulate a foreign body reaction from macrophages, creating a synovium-like cyst around the object.
> The implications for removal should be obvious
You'll end up a granuloma (collection of macrophages), which may calcify or slowly resolve down to collagenous scar tissue.
So, I wouldn't lead with the biology, at least not when pitching your concerns to scientists. The privacy implications are pretty horrific though.
But yes, the privacy and precedent implications of this will far outweigh the medical ones.
I thought about mentioning it in my original comment, but it's so rare that it seemed somewhat sensationalist to even bring it up.
which is why i mentioned it!
> but it's so rare that it seemed somewhat sensationalist to even bring it up.
fair enough. although there can be a sensationalist reaction to the news as well. I believe only 9 cases were found? I find it's worthwhile for my own expectations of reality, to respect that nothing is a sure thing, and that much comes with a big asterisk next to it.
I agree with your overall tone, but can't this be done already with facial recognition?
- Need unobscured face (crowds).
- Complicated by changes in features and environment.
- Unique IDs are something you ascribe to faces, not something they hand to you on a plate.
- Sophisticated analysis needed.
Example: even Baidu uses custom tricks for their facial recognition office ID with a known database of mugshots. I.e. not an unknown number of people in various conditions.
RFID:
- AFAIK can read many tags at once.
- No need for line of sight.
- Tags hand over a (likely) unique ID on demand
- No need for deep learning experts at $100k>
Seems to me microchips would be far easier to achieve creepy levels of tracking with.
Revelations 13:16: And the second beast required all people small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, 17: so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark—the name of the beast or the number of its name.…
The problem with fast-forwarding these concerns into the present day is that, in general, "we" are the ones _issuing_ those stamps, not the ones upon whom they're forced.
You appear not to understand how "not being religious" works.
Just think about how often Franklin's "Liberty vs Safety" is quoted here and around the rest of the internet.
Or how often people like to compare the world to 1984 or Brave New World.
When quoting the bible you're not quoting from the direct source, but a translated and interpreted version.
When quoting Franklin it is actually his words.
Most translations of the bible try to keep as close to the source as possible and manage to do so. And if you imply som morphing of the bible that happened during its existance, there is historical evidence that seems to prove that it remained quite constant.
I see diyseguy post quite interesting, in that he is aware of the priming that still is in his mind and the way that it influences his thinking. I see him not more excessive importance to the bible than many of the people that quote from works of fiction on HN.
https://techcrunch.com/2014/02/14/how-the-world-butchered-be...
[& p.s. since HN doesn't like single word replies]
They are normalizing mechanisms of maximal control. Just like the perp walk of innocents in airports. Chipping is what we do to cattle. And of course, a simple hospital style bracelet would afford a substantially larger surface area for embedding of technology.
Please do not normalize this shit and drag the rest of us down into your dystopian horror film with you.
But then... What happens when performance is used to determine hiring and firing and you can't perform as well without an implant.
I understand these are currently just for ID purposes (easy password). But these NFC chips already have a certain amount of storage. What happens when that storage is used to store context information that improves 3-5 operations rather than just login?
This has all the trappings of a great popcorn worthy story.
Not sure but it sits right under some thin skin so if they have a powerful enough microwave beam on that location it'd probably burn me equally from both sides.
I guess this is always the case. No need for chips.
No maintenance. I don't even use it anymore so not sure it still works tbh. Another friend of mine had hers removed it wasn't a big deal her GP did it.
Implant procedure at the time was a large needle through a pinched flap of skin then another tool which held the chip (it looks like a grain of rice) is pushed into the hole. The person then pushed it around through the skin to position it and you get a bandaid.
I know friends who have had implant birth control just had the needle.
Do you know which chip you have in?
I saw the related Mythbusters episode and they mention it not easy to remove the chip after some years.
My friend had hers removed after closer to five years. GP used a scalpel to make a small cut and pulled it out. The process seems to be the same for women who get Implanon.
People don't get pacemakers for fun. They get pacemakers because they're medical devices that ensure their hearts beat properly.
The point of that quote is to say that putting something unnecessary into your body is a big step, but that it's also a much smaller risk while still providing something interesting.
Invasive idiocy.