UK companies may implant employees with microchips

[midian182]

A hot potato: Would you allow your employer to implant a microchip under your skin? It’s a scenario that could soon be faced by hundreds of thousands of UK workers after two firms said they were in talks with British companies about using the technology.

UK-based BioTeq told The Guardian that it had already fitted 150 implants in the country. While most were for individuals, some financial and engineering firms have had the chips implanted in their staff as a way of improving security.

Implanted in the skin between the thumb and forefinger, the chips use RFID and NFC, letting them perform tasks such as opening certain doors and starting cars. They can also be used to store medical data, which could be accessed if the person was involved in an accident.

Swedish firm Biohax is also involved in the microchipping business. The Daily Telegraph reports that it was in talks with a number of UK legal and financial firms who want to offer the implants to employees. One of these is said to be a major financial services with hundreds of thousands of staff.

“These companies have sensitive documents they are dealing with,” said Biohax founder and former professional bodypiercer Jowan Österlund. “[The chips] would allow them to set restrictions for whoever.”

Biohax’s chips cost £150 (around $193) each and are about the size of a grain of rice. Österlund says that big companies with over 200,000 employees could offer them to workers as an alternative to carrying around an ID pass, claiming they will save firms money.

The Guardian notes that Britain’s biggest employer organization and main trade union body have spoken out against the microchips. Not only do they say companies have more immediate priorities, but there’s also a concern that such technology could eventually be used to monitor staff and keep a constant eye on their whereabouts. There's also the fear that some workers might feel pressured into getting chipped.

Last year, Wisconsin-based Three Square Market became the first company in the US to microchip employees. The chips allow staff to make contactless, cashless payments at special vending machines on site.

Working with Swedish rail firm Statens Järnvägar, Biohax lets passengers use implanted chips instead of tickets on the Scandinavian country’s trains. An Australian biohacker carried out a DIY version of the implanting procedure last year, but transit authorities canceled his chip, which was cut out of a travel card.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/77375-uk-companies-look-implanting-employees-microchips.html

 

[yRaz]

Biohax’s chips cost £150 (around $193) each and are about the size of a grain of rice. Österlund says that big companies with over 200,000 employees could offer them to workers as an alternative to carrying around an ID pass, claiming they will save firms money.

I will not put a tracking device in my body so you can save money.

 

[Mister_K]

Biohax’s chips cost £150 (around $193) each and are about the size of a grain of rice. Österlund says that big companies with over 200,000 employees could offer them to workers as an alternative to carrying around an ID pass, claiming they will save firms money.

I will not put a tracking device in my body so you can save money.

WTF! At that point id want a salary increase but it would defeat the purpose of saving money for the company as I would ask for a lot.

Absolutely *****ic.

 

[gamerk2]

Biohax’s chips cost £150 (around $193) each and are about the size of a grain of rice. Österlund says that big companies with over 200,000 employees could offer them to workers as an alternative to carrying around an ID pass, claiming they will save firms money.

I will not put a tracking device in my body so you can save money.

You will if it becomes required for employment. That's where things are headed.

 

[Uncle Al]

Sure, put it in! And wait to see how long it stays there ...... LOL

 

[gusticles41]

Wonder what the termination process would be like. It's a bit more difficult than handing in a keycard. They'd probably just deactivate it and leave it in your hand....

All sorts of nope.

 

[Bubbajim]

Wonder what the termination process would be like. It's a bit more difficult than handing in a keycard. They'd probably just deactivate it and leave it in your hand....

All sorts of nope.

On top of that, people aren't staying in the same job/with the same company for long anymore. What happens when you're working for your fourth or fifth company? You just have some kind of bulbous hand exploding with old NFC chips. Grim!

 

[BSim500]

"They can also be used to store medical data, which could be accessed if the person was involved in an accident."

So can simple medical ID cards / bracelets that already have the advantage of literally anyone who found you unconscious making an emergency call can read without an expensive scanner:-

Caller - "Hi, I need an ambulance. There's a guy here unconscious. He's breathing but unresponsive"

Operator - "Do you happen to be randomly carrying a $10,000 bio-implant scanner with the correct decryption key to see his medical history kept digitally encrypted under his fingernails?"

Caller - "No, but he suffers from epilepsy, is allergic to penicillin and his blood type is O+..."

Operator - "Wait, how did you know that without your special authorized $10k bio-scanner?"

Caller - "The paper Medical Alert card in his wallet says so. I mean that's kinda the point of carrying emergency medical information unencrypted - to have it easily readable by anyone needing to make a 911 call, just in case the paramedics are delayed and someone else has to adminster an emergency epinephrine / insulin / antiseizure injection, right?..."

 

[stewi0001]

Hmm... I think "The Belko Experiment" might turn people off from this idea as well.

 

[VitalyT]

No matter how carefully it is injected, it is inevitable there will be some unlucky ones to catch blood infection along the way. Then this thing will unravel with law suits.

 

[Misagt]

My response is very simple. (insert preferred profanity here) NO!!!

There is no reason I should allow a company to track my whereabouts. They can say all they want it's limited or this or that, but at the end of the day you have no idea what they are wanting to put in your body.

 

[toooooot]

I have an idea I want to patent: these chips with powerful drugs controlled by employer to release in small doses to reward good workers. Think of the productivity and the rivalry!

 

[wiyosaya]

NFW! Have a thumb print or retinal scanner, or both. Tough sh!t if it costs more.

 

[p51d007]

Nope, you can get into the whole religious "mark of the beast" stuff if you want but, if my company
I work for, does not TRUST me, then I don't want to work for them anyway. Plus, fingerprint/retina
scanner should be enough.
This is just another crack in your privacy.
"But, it will only be used for work, your house/car...for your convenience!
Yeah, they said you could keep your healthcare, the social security number would never be used
for ID purposes too.
And, once this becomes mainstream, you know good and well, the "government" will put RFID
receivers all over the place, to track your travel, and, use it for contact-less payments to refuse
something you wish to purchase because "it isn't good for you" once the One World UN takes
everything over by 2030, according to THEIR statements.

 

[mrjgriffin]

I mean you can try to chip me if you don't mind spending time in the hospital lol. whoop that *** boi

I think people are missing the true reason why they're trying to chip people. slavery. they won't say that yet, but once enough people are chipped...........oh man.

 

[captaincranky]

I have an idea I want to patent: these chips with powerful drugs controlled by employer to release in small doses to reward good workers. Think of the productivity and the rivalry!

Think of the horrible and painful withdrawal agony if or when you get fired.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Never unless I was controlling that which was broadcast. First off I would need an on and off switch, so I can control when it is being used. Basically if I'm not in range of a chip scanner at work, I would want the chip to be silent.

 

[Uncle Al]

Oh, I remembered a company that contacted me after I put a chip in my cat. This company can get the frequency and "track" the little bugger if he gets out and runs away ...... so, me thinks, exactly what is the difference between the pet chip and the one they want to put in these folks arms??? Don't kid yourself, when 5G gets to be all the rage with the kind of distances they are boasting you very well may see an effort through the Social Security Administration to make this the "new" social security card or a similar effort and then you can kiss off ANY kind of privacy .......

 

[cliffordcooley]

...you very well may see an effort through the Social Security Administration to make this the "new" social security card or a similar effort and then you can kiss off ANY kind of privacy .......

That will be when I start toting a frequency jammer around in my back pocket. Someone will build it. I wouldn't have need in taking the time to engineer it.

 

[toooooot]

Think of the horrible and painful withdrawal agony if or when you get fired.

Jeff Besos needs workers thinking that and I am ready to give him this.

 

[Lew Zealand]

They'll wear you down.

Outrage at the first article. Objecting at the fifth. Annoyance at the 12th. Bemusement at the 30th.

Baaaaaa...

 

[cliffordcooley]

Outrage at the first article. Objecting at the fifth. Annoyance at the 12th. Bemusement at the 30th.

Don't know where you are going with this.

 

[Lew Zealand]

They're wearing us (the public in general) down. What's outrageous to us right now will become commonplace as most people are simply too complacent to care.

Certain high profile people with their constant outrageous statements are a big part of this problem, downgrading the outrageous to merely commonplace by sheer volume alone.

 

[Digitalzone]

Capitalism is the rule of the capitalist. So soon expect that you will "with your agreement" be implanted a chip or you dont get the job.

 

[Dosahka]

I mean you can try to chip me if you don't mind spending time in the hospital lol. whoop that *** boi

I think people are missing the true reason why they're trying to chip people. slavery. they won't say that yet, but once enough people are chipped...........oh man.

the term will be "for your protection"