RFID Implants

Imagine a world in which you no longer needed a set of keys to open your door, but instead all you had to do was wave your arm. Turning on your car, your TV and anything else with a simple gesture of your hand are all things that are possible thanks to the idea of RFID implants.

These implants are nothing more than devices that send out little pieces of data on radio waves that contain enough information to identify things, usually as a stream of numbers and letters. The data can be used to track packages or even contain information about the owner of an animal (pet microchipping) and is something that is gradually moving towards humans.

There are immediate easily identifiable uses. The idea I gave at the beginning is something that has been achieved by multiple individuals as early as 1998 (I’d recommend looking up Kevin Warwick and Amal Grafstraa on Google if you have the time). Some clubs in Europe at the moment use these as VIP passes, if you don’t have one you can’t get into the club. Other uses include the aforementioned things in the first paragraph, the setting up any piece of technology in your home that currently requires a switch to be activated with the wave of a hand. Like everything else though – it is impossible to have only positives.

One of the greatest concerns that I personally feel about RFID implants come from the security risks that this presents. The first one may not seem that concerning but I’ll go through it – The idea of cloning RFID tags. To put it as simply as possible, the code that is sent from an RFID tag is what identifies an individual so anyone who happens to pick up this code and put it on a separate RFID tag will effectively have stolen your identity. You wouldn’t even be aware as the scanning distance can easily be over a few meters (significantly larger in other cases). If the RFID has access to your banking details then the thieves have easy access to your account.

The second fear is that of uberveillance, the process of constantly being monitored by use of people tracking your implants. Starting small, if a business makes it mandatory to implant RFID tags in its workers then by simply establishing a set of scanners at various locations in the office they will be constantly able to monitor your position, knowing how much time you spend at your desk, on coffee breaks, what time you started to a second and when you left.

As for the big stuff, how many people remember the Australia card (do they still cover that topic in history the school certificate?). A replacement of Medicare, passport and drivers license, it was to be an identifying card that had every piece of information on you in a single location, providing governments with the ability to effectively monitor everything you did. While at the moment I have nothing but contempt for the Australian Government and its ability to implement technological solutions to anything, there is still a fear one day that RFID tags could potentially be used as a means of tracking individuals everywhere in the country.

It is for these reasons that I am cautious about RFID tags, however I intend to see where the technology develops before I make any final decisions.