Would You Let Your Employer Implant You with a Microchip?
One Wisconsin company is reportedly taking convenience to the next level, offering its employees an implantable microchip for the purposes of scanning into the building and buying food.
“It’s the next thing that’s inevitably going to happen, and we want to be a part of it,” Todd Westby, Three Square Market CEO, told ABC News.
Three Square Market provides what it calls “micro markets,” or mini convenience stores, to offices in need of a creative break room revamp. The company installs everything from coffee stations to fully stocked snack shelves.
According to ABC News, approximately 50 employees at Three Square Market will have Radio-Frequency Identification (or RFID) technology implanted between their thumb and index fingers “within seconds” on Aug. 1. The RFID chips are about the size of a grain of rice and cost $300 each, paid for at the company’s expense. Employees will not be required to implant the chips and the company says the chips do not have GPS tracking.
Microchip technology is nothing new. Many people have RFIDs implanted in their pets so they can be located in case of emergency. In humans, microchips are implanted just underneath the skin using a needle. The only known complications that can occur with RFIDs are when the device shifts or causes irritation. Of course, this isn’t because other potential health issues don’t exist; it’s because the technology is not widely used by humans.
Still, Three Square Market sees itself at the forefront of microchip technology. In the future, Westby says, RFIDs will be used in every aspect of our lives.
“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,” Westby said in a statement. “Eventually, this technology will become standardized allowing you to use this as your passport, public transit, all purchasing opportunities, etc.”
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