https://www.npr.org/2018/10/22/65880...der-their-skin
Thousands Of Swedes Are Inserting Microchips Under Their Skin
Technology continues to get closer and closer to our bodies, from the phones in our pockets to the smartwatches on our wrists. Now, for some people, it's getting under their skin.
In Sweden, a country rich with technological advancement, thousands have had microchips inserted into their hands.
The chips are designed to speed up users' daily routines and make their lives more convenient — accessing their homes, offices and gyms is as easy as swiping their hands against digital readers.
They also can be used to store emergency contact details, social media profiles or e-tickets for events and rail journeys within Sweden.
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Proponents of the tiny chips say they're safe and largely protected from hacking, but one scientist is raising privacy concerns around the kind of personal health data that might be stored on the devices.
Around the size of a grain of rice, the chips typically are inserted into the skin just above each user's thumb, using a syringe similar to that used for giving vaccinations. The procedure costs about $180.
So many Swedes are lining up to get the microchips that the country's main chipping company says it can't keep up with the number of requests.
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More than 4,000 Swedes have adopted the technology, with one company, Biohax International, dominating the market. The chipping firm was started five years ago by Jowan Osterlund, a former professional body piercer.
After spending the past two years working full time on the project, he is currently developing training materials so he can hire Swedish doctors and nurses to help take on some of his heavy workload.
"Having different cards and tokens verifying your identity to a bunch of different systems just doesn't make sense," he says. "Using a chip means that the hyper-connected surroundings that you live in every day can be streamlined."
Erik Frisk, a Web developer and designer, uses his implanted chip to unlock his office door in Stockholm.
Maddy Savage for NPR
Many early adopters come from Stockholm's thriving startup scene. Erik Frisk, a 30-year-old Web developer and designer, says he was really curious about the technology as soon as he heard about it and decided to get his own chip in 2014.
"It's just completely passive, it has no energy source or anything. So when you tap it against a reader, the chip sends back an ID that tells the reader which chip it is," he explains.
"Swedes are very pragmatic and the chip is useful ... and since a lot of people know each other in the tech community — it's very tight — [the trend has] been spreading and people have seen the benefits," Frisk says.
When Frisk moved into a shared house earlier this year, he organized a chipping party for his new housemates. Now they can access the 16th century building they share in Stockholm's Old Town by tapping their hands on a digital reader by the door.
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"The chip basically solves my problems," says Szilvia Varszegi, 28, who also uses it to get into her coworking space.
And she uses it to share her LinkedIn details at networking events, avoiding the need to spell out her name. She simply touches another attendee's smartphone and the information is transferred. "When another phone reads the chip, they see the [link] and they can open it in the phone browser," Varszegi explains.
Sweden's largest train company has started allowing commuters to use chips instead of tickets, and there's talk that the chips could soon be used to make payments in shops and restaurants.
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you can't explain crazy 'cause crazy's crazy!!
just cause youre paranoid doesnt mean they aint after you!
Veritas vos liberabit