The cover charge at this club? An RFID implant

Mon Jun 29, 2009 6:03PM EDT

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It works for Fido, so why not you?

The same RFID implants used to identify lost pets are now being adapted for use on you and me, and not how one might have originally expected. As with all pioneering technologies, it's leisure pursuits that are getting the first stab at the tech.

Specifically: One beach-oriented Barcelona nightclub, the Baja Beach Club, is using the implants to free customers of the burdens of having to carry their purses or wallets. Makes sense: When you're spending the day in a bikini and flip-flops, where do you keep your ID? Instead, the bouncer just scans your arm with an RFID reader, and you're in. And since you can't carry a credit card or cash either, the implants do double duty: You can pay for drinks with a quick scan of the chip. Chipped patrons also gain access to VIP areas of the club.

The implant procedure is simple and mostly painless (except for all the legal paperwork required): The area where the chip is injected is thoroughly numbed, then the glass capsule is injected beneath a layer of skin and fat on the arm.

It's an interesting experiment, and I'm intrigued to see whether the idea will catch on. The catch, of course, becomes what will happen if a lot of clubs in one area decide to do this. One RFID chip under the skin is probably an interesting conversation piece. A dozen in one arm might make you walk funny. Obviously the one-chip-per-establishment system isn't really sustainable in the long run.

Could someone come along and develop a broad human RFID chip standard? Such plans have been being talked about for years, but nothing much has ever come of it. Naturally, security implications are huge: RFID tags can be scanned, copied, and altered by savvy hackers, and it would be a simple matter for a wily crook to scan people en masse as they pass through, say, the entrance of a mall. It's one thing if they're making off with free drinks on your dime, another if they can suck your life away with the wave of a wand.

Pro or con? Well... it's something to think and talk about while you're doing all that drinking!

Comments on The cover charge at this club? An RFID implant

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  • 46 Posted by rtrapasso on Wed Jul 1, 2009 8:58AM EDT Report Abuse

    emanon1913, the swine flu's just another flu, and I don't take vaccines, anyway, unless required for attending a college or something. You can parade around your grand conspiracies and paranoia all you want, in fact, maybe Rockefeller is right about the whole eugenics thing, hmm? Booga booga. (You do realize that 'they' PROBABLY already know who you are, just by being on the internet, don't you? What a patriot, risking your live like that!)

  • 47 Posted by rtrapasso on Wed Jul 1, 2009 9:03AM EDT Report Abuse

    kamavasayita, I don't know if you were directed here from AJ's site, too, but thank you for giving a truly thoughtful argument against it. ... People can be as paranoid as they want, but arguing that RFID is 666 and Baby Jesus is on his way back really annoys me. Think it all you want, but it's hard to say it's a logical point to use.

  • 48 Posted by secondsaver2 on Wed Jul 1, 2009 9:57AM EDT Report Abuse

    This chip is meant to take away freedom from society and to put in place a kind of cashless grid where the controllers or administrators of this technology will have at least the same amount of authority and control over the chipped population as the slave masters or the past used to have over their slaves.

  • 49 Posted by secondsaver2 on Wed Jul 1, 2009 10:02AM EDT Report Abuse

    I had initailly written a leanthy comment on this issue but it wouldn't get posted so now I will break it in to smaller protions .... Part 1: The fact of the matter is that this technology is analogous to Hitler's Final Solution for the jews. This is it, if you accept this chip you have handed yourself over in to complete submission and total slavery.

  • 50 Posted by secondsaver2 on Wed Jul 1, 2009 10:06AM EDT Report Abuse

    Part 2: continuing from the previous comment..... This is exactly the thing that many people have been warning us about for years. This is an attempt to put in place a worldwide cashless grid to control, dominate, and enslave all of humanity. Just think about it for a second, what are you giving up when you accept this chip? You are giving up your privacy, your anonymity, your identity, and all cash.

  • 51 Posted by secondsaver2 on Wed Jul 1, 2009 10:09AM EDT Report Abuse

    Part 3: continuing from the previous comment..... Let's take an example, if today you go to the market and your credit card doesn't work; you have an option of simply paying with cash. Tomorrow, in a chipped and cashless society, if your chip doesn't work, how do you buy food or get access to other necessities of life like transportation or health care.

  • 52 Posted by secondsaver2 on Wed Jul 1, 2009 10:34AM EDT Report Abuse

    Part 4: continuing from the previous comment..... All it will take for someone to destroy your life is to simply turn off your chip or just swap your data on the server with that of someone else. To be Continued ....

  • 53 Posted by secondsaver2 on Wed Jul 1, 2009 10:35AM EDT Report Abuse

    Part 5: continuing from the previous comment..... This article mentions the risks of this technology being associated with hackers. It is not the hackers that we should be worried about; it is the people that have administrative control over this technology that should concern us. Because the people having administrative control could exercise at least as much control over the chipped population as the slave masters of the past used to have over their slaves.

  • 54 Posted by jaole4 on Wed Jul 1, 2009 10:57PM EDT Report Abuse

    This is sick. Only stupid could be slaves. Good lack dummies!!!

  • 55 Posted by secondsaver2 on Wed Jul 1, 2009 10:36AM EDT Report Abuse

    Part 6 (Final): continuing from the previous comment..... Even now I can see this debate being spun in to a kind of religious division; this is not a religious issue. This is about choosing freedom or choosing slavery. So please do yourself and everyone else a huge favour and SAY NO TO THE CHIP.

  • 56 Posted by azhiker19 on Thu Jul 2, 2009 4:04PM EDT Report Abuse

    To those who believe this is a "cool" idea - absolutely wrong. Not only too Big Brother, but Hitler tried this and it didn't exactly go over too well...count me in the Resistance.

  • 57 Posted by darkehawk_1 on Wed Jul 1, 2009 11:55AM EDT Report Abuse

    This is not NEWS to some of us who have been watching for a 3while. Digital Angel, I believe, has recieved USDA approval for thier implant chips. One chip to equal your ID, your medical and your financial. Of note, add tumors to the side affects as well as looking strongly like the Mark of the Beast. These chips being used in both people and pets have reported a veryt high increase in instaces of tumorous growths arround the implant sites to date.

  • 58 Posted by norda_ebay on Thu Jul 2, 2009 5:20PM EDT Report Abuse

    As with most technology this is a double edged sword. While RFID tags in humans could provide all kinds of benefits s.a. medical records and ease of ID'ing people the potential for abuse is beyond huge. Besides the ease with which ID theft could be conducted, just think how much the Ayatollah's would love to get their hands on this technology. I'm troubled enough by the smart ID's they are using now (at least I can throw it away w/o self-mutilation). Unless you are a firm believer that it isn't possible for your government to do harm then I recommend stongly against this one.

  • 60 Posted by colorado127 on Fri Jul 3, 2009 1:53AM EDT Report Abuse

    Not a chance, i wont even sign the electronic pad at the grocery store. The clerk says I have to so I ask 'what law says i have to sign that'. They usually just say ok and move on.

  • 61 Posted by kaldi102 on Fri Jul 3, 2009 2:04AM EDT Report Abuse

    NWO scum~ I like how the article is "Selling" the concept but not presently the dangers

  • 62 Posted by eisenbrey@att.net on Sat Jul 4, 2009 11:55PM EDT Report Abuse

    your freakin kidding me!!! this is the first step towards World Order taking over. who is to say they cant/wont track your every move? this is completely ridiculous!! head for the hills, hide your women and children. Big brother is alive and well.

  • 64 Posted by sean68_98_98 on Mon Jul 6, 2009 4:48PM EDT Report Abuse

    Then if the sheep get out of line,those in control just have to turn off the chip. No ID, no money and Big Brother knows your whereabouts at all times. Your life is wiped away by a mouse click. Maybe all those New World Order conspiracy theorists were right.

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