1.500 Σουηδοί «φύτεψαν» μικροτσίπ στο δέρμα τους!

Περιέχουν προσωπικά δεδομένα της υγείας τους και τους δίνουν πρόσβαση σε e-συσκευές χωρίς κωδικούς!

O «Μεγάλος αδερφός» συναντά τον Αντίχριστο; Ή απλά πρόκειται για μια εικόνα από το μέλλον που είναι πλέον εδώ; Ο λόγος για τη νέα «μόδα» στη Σουηδία, που θέλει τους πολίτες να αποκτούν ψηφιακά εμφυτεύματα, με τα οποία μπορούν να παρακολουθούν τα προσωπικά δεδομένα της υγείας τους, ενώ παράλληλα αποκτούν άμεση πρόσβαση στις ηλεκτρονικές συσκευές τους χωρίς την ανάγκη κωδικών.

Μέχρι σήμερα περισσότεροι από 1.500 Σουηδοί έχουν τοποθετήσει εθελοντικά τα ειδικά μικροτσίπ κάτω από το δέρμα τους, που θυμίζουν σε μεγάλο βαθμό τα αντίστοιχα που χρησιμοποιούνται για τους σκύλους και τις γάτες. Χρησιμοποιώντας τεχνολογία αιχμής, το μικροτσίπ -η τοποθέτηση του οποίου διαρκεί κλάσματα του δευτερολέπτου- μπορεί να «διαβαστεί» από απόσταση μερικών εκατοστών και το περιεχόμενό του να μεταβληθεί χρησιμοποιώντας ένα κινητό τηλέφωνο. Επιπλέον, το ψηφιακό μικροτσίπ μπορεί να χρησιμοποιηθεί σε αρκετές κοινές εφαρμογές της Σκανδιναβίας, όπως ανοίγματα και ξεκλειδώματα θυρών, πληρωμή αγαθών και υπηρεσιών και αποθήκευση δεδομένων, παρακάμπτοντας τα κινητά και τα τάμπλετ.


Εμπνευστής της ιδέας ήταν ο Γιόβαν Εστερλουντ (φωτογραφία δεξιά), ο οποίος από το κατάστημα piercing που διατηρούσε στην πόλη Λίνκεπινγκ έγινε ο μεγαλύτερος «βιοχάκερ» του κόσμου, μετατρέποντας τους απλούς ανθρώπους σε «υπερανθρώπους», χρησιμοποιώντας τα ψηφιακά εμφυτεύματα. Μάλιστα, η εταιρία του Biohax κέρδισε το προβάδισμα μέσω της απόκτησης ισχυρών πελατών.

Σχετικό αναλυτικό ρεπορτάζ του Associated Press, 3/4/2017:

Cyborgs at work: employees getting implanted with microchips




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.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/4fdcd5970f4f4871961b69eeff5a6585/cyborgs-work-employees-getting-implanted-microchips





και αντίστοιχο ρεπορτάζ από το ABC News Australia:


Swedish employees agree to free microchip implants designed for office work

Would you agree to have a microchip implanted in you by your workplace that could potentially monitor your toilet breaks and how many hours you worked?

A Swedish firm in Stockholm — Epicenter — has offered to inject its staff with microchips for free, and around 150 of the company's young workforce have so far taken up the offer.




The RFID (radio-frequency identification) chips are roughly the size of a grain of rice, and are implanted using a syringe into the fleshy part of the recipient's hand.




At the moment the chip gives Epicenter's workers access to doors and photocopiers, but with the promise that further down the track it will include the ability to pay in the cafe.


Patrick Mesterton, co-founder and chief executive of Epicenter, said the biggest benefit of the script was the convenience.


"It basically simplifies your life," he said.


"You can do airline fares with it, you can also go to your local gym … So it basically replaces a lot of things you have other communication devices for, whether it be credit cards, or keys, or things like that."


Mr Mesterton said deciding to put something in your body was a big step, and when he first considered it he asked himself: "Why would I do this?"


"But then on the other hand, I mean, people have been implanting things in their body, like pacemakers and stuff, to control their heart," he said.


"That's a way, way more serious thing than having a small chip than can actually communicate with devices."


Epicenter's chief experience officer Fredric Kaijser, who is also microchipped, said it was common for people to ask him about it when they first found out he had an implant.


"They all get excited about privacy issues and what that means and so forth," he said.
Monitoring toilet breaks, work hours, location


Certainly the technology could mean trading off an amount of a person's privacy in exchange for the convenience it offers.


Ben Libberton, a microbiologist from the Swedish thinktank and research organisation the Karolinska Institute, said the data that could be accessed from the embedded chip was very different from the data found on a person's smartphone.


"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," he said.


"All of that data could conceivably be collected.


"So then the questions is: What happens to it afterwards? What is it used for? Who is going to be using it? Who is going to be seeing it?"


Sandra Haglof, who works for the Stockholm-based event company Eventomatic, said she chose to get the chip because she wanted to be "part of the future".


"I usually lose a lot of things like my keys … so this will give me access and help me a lot more."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-03/swedish-employees-agree-to-microchip-implants/8410018

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