Three Square Market (32M), a Wisconsin-based business, will become the first US company to implant RFID microchips in employee's hands.
The decision is nothing more than a media stunt orchestrated by 32M in partnership with BioHax, a Swedish-based company that provides bio-friendly implantable RFID microchips.
32M is a provider of break room food dispensers and has recently added support for implantable RFID microchips, allowing anyone to pay for food just by waving their RFID-implanted hand near one of their devices.
Company holding a "chip party"
To show that RFID implants are safe, the company will provide free RFID implants to all employees during a "chip party" on August 1. Implants are optional.
Besides the benefit of using Jedi-like tricks when buying food from office break rooms, 32M and BioHax say the chip has secondary benefits, such as opening access doors, activating office copy machines, automatic login for work computers, unlocking work phones, sharing business cards, and even storing critical medical/health information.
32M hopes their stunt will garner enough media attention, so other companies will consider the benefits of employee implants.
The benefit for 32M is that once companies adopt RFID implants — for any other reasons — they'll be able to push their RFID-friendly food dispensers to those companies' office break rooms.
Implants work similarly to contactless payment cards
RFID implants work on the same NFC (Near-Field Communications) technology used by today's contactless payment cards and mobile wallet solutions. The RFID chip is implanted between the thumb and forefinger underneath the skin. An implant takes seconds, and the body's reaction varies from person to person.
In a press release, the company says it views RFID implants as the future in micro-payments.
"We see this as another payment and identification option that not only can be used in our markets but our other self-checkout / self-service applications that we are now deploying which include convenience stores and fitness centers," said 32M COO Patrick McMullan.
Image credit: 32M
Comments
GT500 - 6 years ago
How much do you want to bet that if this makes it on the evening news, that no one at your local (or national) news station is going to review the security concerns about such devices?
ThroatPunchDonor - 6 years ago
Sweet. Just need a pair of gloves with an RFID reader built in and a reason to shake your hand so your information can be stolen.
Liquid8or - 6 years ago
Definitely a security risk... Just a step closer to "Mark of the Beast" Tech
cjgiam - 6 years ago
Not only a security risk, but implications of phase 1 of a true Big Brother society