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Partly cloudy skies. Low 56F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph.
Updated: October 24, 2022 @ 4:04 pm
A tech startup says a device even smaller than this one could be implanted as a vaccine passport. Dreamstime/TNS
A tech startup says a device even smaller than this one could be implanted as a vaccine passport. Dreamstime/TNS
ORLANDO, Fla. — A rice-sized microchip implanted under your skin could become your vaccine passport.
A Swedish tech startup says its device could be customized to display people’s COVID-19 vaccination records, according to a video the South China Post posted Friday on Twitter.
Epicenter, based in Stockholm, says anyone who opts for microchip implantation can later change their minds and have the device removed.
“Right now it’s very convenient to have a COVID passport always accessible on your implant,” Hannes Sjoblad, Epicenter’s chief disruption officer, says in the video.
The chip uses near-field communication (NFC) to send the data to devices, including smartphones, that can read them.
It’s the same type of technology used in most contactless credit cards and mobile payments, according to Fox Business.
Such devices have a range of practical applications.
“They can act as a key fob or a form of payment, or they can be programmed to store data, like, for instance, your resume. (All you have to do is hold a smartphone over the chip to program it.),” according to Hour Detroit Magazine. “They’re not dissimilar from the identification chips you’d install in your cat or dog.”
The novelty of the technology makes some people uncomfortable enough to label it creepy, dystopian or even apocalyptic.
Many responses to Friday’s video were negative and angry.
Some noted that involuntary microchipping via vaccination was a prominent conspiracy theory last year.
A poll taken in May 2020 found “44% of Republicans think Bill Gates is working on a coronavirus vaccine because he wants to plant a microchip in them and monitor their movements,” the New York Daily News reported.
Tribune Wire
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How is this any more secure than a card, wearable, or phone with RFID technology?
Other than obviously making conspiracy theorists jump for joy, this idea strikes me as having many problems. One is the possibility of counterfeiting. People already use devices to clone credit card information. Couldn’t someone just “read” your chip and then install their own chip with your same code copied to it? Then again, the intersection of the the set of those who would use such a technique with the set of those who would avoid getting vaccinated is probably really, really small.
You guys r e a l l y should fact check before copy pasting articles.
This isn’t really news. RFID chip implants have been around for a while. The EU Covid vaccination verification app (a base app that can be modified by individual member states) already has code to verify a vaccine passport stored on an RFID chip. (There is an error in the sample code, but that was fixed by a Finnish member of the Dangerous Things forum.)
So this can be done (and a whole lot more) without anything special from this Swedish company.
A more interesting company in this field (in my opinion) is Vivokey (https://vivokey.com/) who are about to launch their new Apex chips which are capable of running several applications including payment applications, and can act as keys for your Tesla, authentication to log in to your computer and more.
I know this is silly but if they pay off my mortgage I would let them chip me but its got to go both ways They give a little I give a little…or they can go chip themselves because it wont be in me.
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