employees getting implanted with microchips

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Cyborgs at work: employees getting implanted with microchips

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/cyborgs-at-work-employees-getting-implanted-with-microchips/ar-BBzhmBF?li=BBoPWjQ&ocid=mailsignout

STOCKHOLM — The syringe slides in between the thumb and index finger. Then, with a click, a microchip is injected in the employee's hand. Another "cyborg" is created.
What could pass for a dystopian vision of the workplace is almost routine at the Swedish startup hub Epicenter. The company offers to implant its workers and startup members with microchips the size of grains of rice that function as swipe cards: to open doors, operate printers, or buy smoothies with a wave of the hand.

The injections have become so popular that workers at Epicenter hold parties for those willing to get implanted.

"The biggest benefit I think is convenience," said Patrick Mesterton, co-founder and CEO of Epicenter. As a demonstration, he unlocks a door by merely waving near it. "It basically replaces a lot of things you have, other communication devices, whether it be credit cards or keys."

The technology in itself is not new. Such chips are used as virtual collar plates for pets. Companies use them to track deliveries. It's just never been used to tag employees on a broad scale before. Epicenter and a handful of other companies are the first to make chip implants broadly available.

And as with most new technologies, it raises security and privacy issues. While biologically safe, the data generated by the chips can show how often an employee comes to work or what they buy. Unlike company swipe cards or smartphones, which can generate the same data, a person cannot easily separate themselves from the chip.

"Of course, putting things into your body is quite a big step to do and it was even for me at first," said Mesterton, remembering how he initially had had doubts.

"But then on the other hand, I mean, people have been implanting things into their body, like pacemakers and stuff to control your heart," he said. "That's a way, way more serious thing than having a small chip that can actually communicate with devices.

Epicenter, which is home to more than 100 companies and some 2,000 workers, began implanting workers in January 2015. Now, about 150 workers have them. A company based in Belgium also offers its employees such implants, and there are isolated cases around the world where tech enthusiasts have tried this out in recent years.

The small implants use Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, the same as in contactless credit cards or mobile payments. When activated by a reader a few centimeters (inches) away, a small amount of data flows between the two devices via electromagnetic waves. The implants are "passive," meaning they contain information that other devices can read, but cannot read information themselves.

Ben Libberton, a microbiologist at Stockholm's Karolinska Institute, says hackers could conceivably gain huge swathes of information from embedded microchips. The ethical dilemmas will become bigger the more sophisticated the microchips become.

"The data that you could possibly get from a chip that is embedded in your body is a lot different from the data that you can get from a smartphone," he says. "Conceptually you could get data about your health, you could get data about your whereabouts, how often you're working, how long you're working, if you're taking toilet breaks and things like that."

Libberton said that if such data is collected, the big question remains of what happens to it, who uses it, and for what purpose.

So far, Epicenter's group of cyborgs doesn't seem too concerned.

"People ask me; 'Are you chipped?' and I say; 'Yes, why not,'" said Fredric Kaijser, 47, the chief experience officer at Epicenter. "And they all get excited about privacy issues and what that means and so forth. And for me it's just a matter of I like to try new things and just see it as more of an enabler and what that would bring into the future."

The implants have become so popular that Epicenter workers stage monthly events where attendees have the option of being "chipped" for free.

That means visits from self-described "body hacker" Jowan Osterlund from Biohax Sweden who performs the "operation."

He injects the implants — using pre-loaded syringes — into the fleshy area of the hand, just next to the thumb. The process lasts a few seconds, and more often than not there are no screams and barely a drop of blood. "The next step for electronics is to move into the body," he says.

Sandra Haglof, 25, who works for Eventomatic, an events company that works with Epicenter, has had three piercings before, and her left hand barely shakes as Osterlund injects the small chip.

"I want to be part of the future," she laughs.

___

Matti Huuhtanen in Helsinki contributed to this report.



Talk about Stockholm syndrome!
It's "voluntary" now. Wonder how long before it becomes mandatory?

Notice the psychobabble, comparing a heart pacemaker to a microchip, the difference being that people need a pacemaker to stay alive, whereas nobody needs a microchip.

I like the claim "I want to be part of the future" which is more psychobabble as being alive tomorrow means you are part of the future, but wait for the backlash, you are monitored everywhere you go and everything you do is tracked, you are in the vicinity of a murder and suddenlt your front door is kicked in and you are arrested for simply being in the vicinity.
You play away from home and all those involved want details of your tracking so they can build a circumstantial case using the excuse "the chip shows you were there" amd its accepted as evidence against you, your rights have been eroded and the system conspires against you to find you guilty of something you may not have done.

I wonder if they had to sign some sort of waiver before being implanted

You can be sure the sheeple will be queuing up for this when they are told they can just walk into a shop ,pick up whatever they want and just walk out without having to queue at a checkout .
It amazes me when i go to a supermarket ,how many use the self scan checkouts ,not even thinking or caring that each of those checkouts is probably replacing three jobs for people.
You may have noticed that B&Q now have only one checkout for cash ,every thing else is for cards .
I refuse to use cards for anything except on line buying .I always go to the hole in the wall and get cash first rather than use a card in a shop,in fact i have never used chip & pin.

Just wait until they launch this on a large scale & watch the sheeple clamour to get them.

Hi daveiron

I never use them self scan checkouts , yes its replacing peoples jobs these supermarkets make millions
shareholders and greed.

They certainly will Dave, then there will be the numerous problems with the scanning systems which we currently have, but with a checkout operator they usually spot it and correct it; there will be the overcharging which will become rife and they will have your cash, then you will have the fights to get it back.

Chips go with fish and pins are for dressmaking.

i wonder how many wives would like to microchip there husbans

Not mine.

They won't ever put that shite into me, even if they threaten me with having no food or money or whatever, they can keep it. I will go out hunting for food if need be.

Just goes to show how brainless some people really are, they shouldn't be let out on their own.

Straight jacket anyone?



Mavrik

jss64 wrote:I wonder if they had to sign some sort of waiver before being implanted

More than likely, since this is a gross miscarriage of Human Rights. People simply do not comprehend that by accepting to become a person, or in other words a corporate body, they are giving up a whole plethora of rights that are theirs simply because the worlds governments do not want anyone to have them, despite that they are all signatories to those rights and more dating back to 1948. The more the people become slaves and accept to be one, the more they are falling headlong into a trap that will be impossible to get out from and technically, they'll also give up their inalienable rights through acceptance. Jeez, some people are not only brain dead, but they are also stupid beyond belief.

Can any of you remember Logan,s run tv series ,its where humans have microchips in there hands and when it flashes red at a certain age they had to go to a integration chamber , at the moment our Government want us to work until 80 years of age ,FOR NO PENSION, i hope Theresa may cant remember Logan,s run

At the risk of being called a Trekki there are numerous scenarios across all of the series of Star Trek that when looked at again by those of us who are awake can see some of these slowly being enacted around us.I suppose the end vision "they" have for us is when we all become Borg.

Aye, I remember Logans Run, when they turned thirty they went into this chamber type room and all floated up in the air, then......puff, gone in a puff of smoke. Maybe that's the silo's plan.

Someone should tell them it was just a tv programme, or was it?



Mavrik