How I Got Locked Out of the Chip Implanted in My Hand | Hacker News Reader

How I Got Locked Out of the Chip Implanted in My Hand

motherboard.vice.com

20 pointsn0pe_p0pe8 comments

For my tastes this is too far over the line into voluntarily subjecting oneself to the kind of treatment a dystopian future government might meet out.

Is there anything new you can do with this, or anything existing which becomes easier? I could see it being quite cool to pay for a coffee with a tap of the wrist, open a hotel room, unlock your car (less cool), or authenticate to you computer (really a lot less cool). Are those things possible?

It will not enable anything new as the RFID device would work just as fine outside your body as it does inside (arguably better outside due to no skin). All it adds is the convenience of never forgetting your tag/card. RFID juwelery is a good less invasive alternative.

Well that's a thing at least. If you could program it to match your office access pass, it's not nothing. Forgetting stuff (wallet, cards, keys) is a problem.

Just not one I'd solve by embedding a chip in my flesh.

"Now all I’ve got to do is decide what to store on the roughly 900 bytes of memory implanted in my hand. Maybe I’ll put a GIF..."

I think that's all I needed to hear. He implanted a device in his body with no plans on what he wants to do with it. Don't get me wrong, I've purchased tools I didn't immediately have a need for on an impulse, but this is blurring the lines between quirky and insanity in my mind.

I could see it being quite cool to pay for a coffee with a tap of the wrist, open a hotel room, unlock your car (less cool), or authenticate to you computer (really a lot less cool).

You can do all of those things with, say, an Apple Watch and no risk of infection.

(Coffee: for sure, I do it all the time.

Room: dunno, but entirely possible.

Car: BMW and Tesla do this with Apple Watch, right?

Authenticate: feature in macOS today.)

Ever read the book of Revelation? It has a lot about an authoritarian government that forces people to put a mark on their hands; without which it's impossible to buy or sell anything. I doubt they would want the implantee to mess with it.

There are plenty of uses for a chip in your hand - and it can still be used when "locked" as you'll often just be reading the fixed ID on it.

I use mine to log into my PC using a custom NFC reader that emulates a keyboard to type my password. https://0xfred.wordpress.com/2016/03/04/nfc-login-2-1/

Another (still in the works) is unlocking my van after I've been out kitesurfing. Modern keys don't like being taken out in the water. This one is waterproof and not easy to lose.

If you're thinking of typing anything about "the mark of the beast" or somebody chopping my hand off to gain access, please don't bother.

I mean, I'm not above the feelings the author probably had when he decided to do this.

In most circles, it's at least very interesting to be able to say you have a chip under your skin. It's also a very "cyberpunk" thing to do-- which is to say, not only are you one of the first to have this done (where it could be conceived that a majority may have a similar procedure in the future), but you can now say you're part machine. He does use the term "cyborg".

I can see this looking like a good idea in my own head, just because of its fantasy. At the same time, DAMN, he just put a chip under his skin for absolutely no reason, and on an impulse, without understanding how it works and subsequently locking himself out. Yikes!

I guess we all make mistakes.

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