News

Orwellian or what?

July 28, 2017

On Aug. 1, Three Square Market, a Wisconsin-based provider of micromarket self-service food kiosks, will begin offering its employees implanted chip technology that will allow them to make cardless food purchases in the company's break room and unlock doors, computers and copy machines at the office.

According to a company press release, the program is voluntary, which must come as a relief to employees disturbed by visions of "1984." Those employees will instead be offered the option to place the microchip in an RFID wristband or RFID-NFC smart ring.

About 50 employees are ready to jump at the chance to be chipped with the RFID device, which is roughly the size of a grain of rice and can be implanted within seconds under the skin between the thumb and forefinger. The FDA-approved technology is being provided to 2M by BioHax, a Swedish company.

"We foresee the use of RFID technology to drive everything from making purchases in our office break room market, opening doors, use of copy machines, logging into our office computers, unlocking phones, sharing business cards, storing medical/health information, and used as payment at other RFID terminals," 32M CEO Todd Westby said in the release.

"Eventually, this technology will become standardized, allowing you to use this as your passport, public transit, all purchasing opportunities, etc. … We see chip technology as the next evolution in payment systems."

The company says that the chip is not trackable and only contains (encrypted) information that the bearer chooses to associate with it — for instance, your address, in case you should become lost and need a veterinarian to help you find your way home.