#microchip implants

We're always hearing how robots are going to take our jobs, but there might be a way of preventing that grim future from happening: by becoming workplace cyborgs first.

A company in Wisconsin has become the first in the US to roll out microchip implants for all its employees, and says it's expecting over 50 of its staff members to be voluntarily 'chipped' next week.

The initiative, which is entirely optional for employees at snack stall supplier Three Square Market (32M), will implant radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips in staff members' hands in between their thumb and forefinger.

Once tagged with the implant, which is about the size of a grain of rice, 32M says its employees will be able to perform a range of common office tasks with an effortless wave of their hand.

Stop it! Companies in Europe are implanting microchips for payment and identification

Are you afraid of a future where governments are watching you every step of the way and controlling everything you do? Would you like to be tracked and have social credit calculated based on how you behave? It’s a nightmare for most people, but more and more companies are emerging that promote these technologies, even directly in Europe. British company Walletmor is offering people to have a…

By Peter Holley, Washington Post, August 23, 2018

The technology company Three Square Market made headlines last year for implanting microchips in the arms of nearly 100 employees, allowing them to open doors, log on to their computers and purchase snacks from company vending machines with a simple swipe of their arm.

The chips were initially little more than an innovative novelty, but now the Wisconsin-based company--which designs software for vending machines--has a more ambitious plan, according to chief executive Todd Westby. During an appearance on CNBC, Westby said his company is working on a more sophisticated microchip that is powered by human body heat and includes GPS tracking capabilities and voice activation.

Microchips with GPS tracking may strike some as the first step toward handing our autonomy over to Skynet-like government overlords, and Three Square Market officials acknowledge that the chips will offer a convenient way to track people--especially those suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Patrick McMullan, president of Three Square Market and the chip technology business Three Square Chip, told CNBC the goal is a “worthy cause.”

“It’s not only GPS. It’s not only voice activation. It’s working on monitoring your vital signs,” McMullan said. “And there are different medical institutions that obviously want that.”

“It’s going to tell my … doctor’s office I have an issue,” he added.

Proponents of medical microchips point out that the devices could contain someone’s entire medical history. If a patient were unconscious or suffered from memory loss, for example, those records could prove invaluable for emergency-room doctors who might be unfamiliar with the person’s prescribed medications or history of illness.

Critics say the practice raises serious privacy concerns, especially when considering who would be responsible for the mountains of personal data that microchips are capable of producing about an individual’s movement, behaviors and health.

Westby told CNBC that 92 out of 196 of the company’s employees have accepted chips and that only one person has had the rice-size device removed.

“What we’ve really done is made it acceptable, or brought it to the forefront where people are now talking about it and looking at the benefits it can do for a person,” he said.

As The Washington Post’s Danielle Paquette noted last year, microchips aren’t exactly new and have been used to tag “pets and livestock” and track deliveries.

Biohax, a Swedish company, has implanted its microchip in several thousand customers, allowing them to ride trains without using tickets, turn on the lights in their apartments and access a gym the company has partnered with. The company claims the microchips are used only to enhance systems that are “completely under your control.”

But microchips have been even more widely discussed since Three Square Market began placing radio-frequency identification tags--which cost about $300--between employees’ index fingers and thumbs.

Noelle Chesley, 49, associate professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, told USA Today that she believes microchipped humans are an inevitability, but not for several decades. Some experts predict it will take that long for the stigma associated with the practice to wear off.

Company embeds microchips in its employees, and they love it

“When Patrick McMullan wants a Diet Dr. Pepper while he’s at work, he pays for it with a wave of his hand. McMullan has a microchip implanted between his thumb and forefinger, and the vending machine immediately deducts money from his account,” Rachel Metz reports for MIT Technology Review. “At his office, he’s one of dozens of employees who have been doing likewise for a year now.”

“M…