Why One Man Got a Guerrilla RFID Implant

Shannon writes "One of my writers just did an interview with Amal Graafstra, who just had an RFID implant put in his hand and has been building appliances for it to simplify and automate his life... "I guess I have my own Big Brother paranoia. Given the choice of Orwellian societies, I'd rather live in one based on RFID tags than fingerprints, DNA, or facial structure; an RFID tag system is easy to manage and opt out of, whereas DNA sampling or facial recognition, well, isn't.""

Easy to opt out = obsolete

[Patik]

If it's easy to opt out of a system of identification, then no one who is serious will use that system. If your gov't wants to track your movements (or whatever you think you're up against) they're not going to use easily-circumvented RFIDs, they'll use biometrics.

Unnecessary surgery

[Monkelectric]

My first thought (as a diabetic) is, what a wonderful opportunity to die of an infection :)

I've always thought

[kpwoodr]

Instead of SSN's (here in the States, as most of Americans, I'm ingorant of the rest of the world) I've always thought we should all be assigned a GUID at birth. If you can't remember it, well, you're screwed. Mine just happens to be:

{EDB6154D-43E6-4707-B453-5FAB334B968E}

With it being globally unique (theoretically), it would be nearly impossible to memorize anyone's other than yourself (I struggle to remember my wife's SSN). So when the identity thief goes to the dealership to buy a car with your id, when they can't recite the GUID assigned to you, they are instantly arrested and displayed hanging from their toenails in the town square for all to see.

Re:Opt-out, eh?

[shredswithpiks]

My thoughts exactly. The idea as a whole seems pretty cool, though. Reminds me of Mercedes' (or was it made by Lexus first? some car company's:...) key system where if you throw the keys in the trunk, the trunk won't close or lock or anything. Once you get within a few feet of the car it will unlock automatically and even start up if you have it set to. I'd rather be able to leave they keys at home, then have them surgically implanted into my hand (or left butt cheek... wherever).

where are the religious zealots?

[i_should_be_working]

I understand the privacy watchdogs being concerned about stuff like this. But it amazes me that I don't hear more complaints from Christians. What with some of them claiming Judgement day is near, and soon we're all going to have the mark of the beast on our hand without which we can't buy stuff, fly or do just about anything else. Maybe I'm just not paying attention.

As for the article, the whole thing does seem pretty cool. And he talks about how it only has a range of a couple of inches, making it hard for someone to scan his info without his say so. That's a bit more reassuring. But then it also makes it hard to do all the cool stuff we see in the ads like pick up items in a store and then just walk out as your tag gets scanned.

There should be some kind of flap that blocks a scan, like a mini-faraday cage, that you can easily cover it with. Then we could get these things with long range, but still feel secure.

Re:Opt-out, eh?

[fm6]

End time fanatics love to claim the number of the beast [blueletterbible.org] as a prophecy of some future Orwellian state. But in fact it was probably just a numerological reference to Nero. You add up the numerical value of the Greek letters for "Neron Kaiser" ("Emperor Nero") and you get 616. But isn't the number 666? In most current Bibles. But the people who put the Bible together had their choice of manuscripts -- and they rejected the ones that say 616.

Referring to the current emperor as a number sounds strange. But it wouldn't have done to refer to him by name -- not if you wanted to avoid becoming lion food.

Re:explanation on the 666

[Anonymous Coward]

Emperor Domitian was a contemporary of St. John the Beloved. Domitian caused a massive statue of himself to be built at Ephesus, overlooking the marketplace. Anyone who wanted to get into the marketplace had to purchase and burn incense in worship to him. Once you had paid for the incense they used a warm blob of wax or a bit of pigment, making a mark on your wrist or forehead to prove you had paid. To worship the Emperor and to swear loyalty to your country were one and the same, considered inseperable. To say "I support our troops but not the Emperor" was sedition. When Christians refused to buy incense, they were asked "Why do you hate your country? Do you wish the Emperor dead?"

Domitian also had a Greek chorus of 24 singers robed in white that followed him around. Ceaselessly they cried [bible.cc] "Holy, holy, holy is our lord and our god Domitian who was and who is and who is to come", falling down and worshipping him. For more information about Domitian, find a book by Plutarch in your local library.

Re:Fooling facial recognition is easy...

[Anonymous Coward]

In Michael Crichton's "State of Fear" he says that facial recognition systems and police officers are trained to look past facial hair and glasses to focus on the shape of the face and the ears, which barely anyone bothers changing. You need to do a bit more than wear groucho glasses and an afro for a good disguise.

Re:From his site

[Rei]

Most people completely misinterpret that '666' number. First off, it's not just a number: it is a number *and* a name. The Greeks wrote numbers using letters, each letter standing for a number. Unlike our system where we use only 10 digits and use ordering to denote the significance of the digits, the Greek system had a different 10 digits for each power of 10. Since they ran out of letters fairly quickly, they brought in older letters that had gone into disuse.

What Revelations actually says is that the number and name of the beast is "xi-chi-digamma" (digamma is also known as "stigma"). This is pronounced ks-kh-w (ks as in the x in "fox", kh as in the ch in "loch"). The xi is 600, the chi is 60, and the digamma is 6. This is *not* three sixes, like many people try and reduce it to; it is a six hundred, a sixty, and a six, combined to make the number six hundred sixty six. If you were to write three sixes in ancient Greek, they would be three sixes, not six hundred sixty six.

Re:Opt-out, eh?

[DunbarTheInept]

What's to stop someone from having a reader up their sleeve or something and shaking hands with the guy - and violla they now know his ID.