Well, the RFID chip is finally in. After posting some crappy cell phone pictures of the implant procedure up on flickr, someone over at Boing Boing caught wind of it (pdf) and things instantly exploded. I’ve been cross-linked on several blogs in less than 24 hours, so I figured it would be a good idea to create a FAQ style page to answer the basic questions that will inevitably be asked.
FAQ (frequently asked questions)
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Q: Can’t they track you?!
A: No. The read range is only 2 inches max. Even with a high powered reader, the chip itself does not have the capability to transmit farther than a couple inches tops. This makes it very difficult to scan my RFID chip without me noticing, and it’s definitely not possible to scan it just by me walking by a sensor or something. It has to be pretty deliberate.
Q: What about GPS?!
A: No. There is currently no implantable GPS technology. None. There are very oversized watches you can wear that do support GPS tracking, but they look like a Dick Tracy watch on steroids.
Q: Is all your information on there?!
A: No. There is only a 10 hexadecimal digit unique code… like 48e9s18fd3 for example. the chip is read-only (you can’t change the data on it) and what it does or what that string of characters means depends on what system is scanning it. The system I’m creating will use that string to ID me and let me in my house, my car, or log me into my computer. If you have your cats or dogs tagged with a chip, they too only carry a unique code, and the animal’s information is stored in a central database. Hospitals are looking to use this technology in the arms of people to link a person’s ID with their medical records in the computer system. The medical data won’t, at this time, be stored on the chip itself as many fear.
Q: Are you crazy?!
A: I tend to think of myself as adventurous, although for centuries people have been putting far stranger things into their body than this. Breast implants, pace makers, metal plates, hip replacements… I see this as just another example of the many different kinds of functional implantable devices people are putting inside their bodies.
Q: What about the mark of the beast!?
A: Well, last time I checked, this chip wasn’t required, I won’t be killed for not having one, I don’t need it to buy/sell things, and with billions of unique ID codes (numbers and letters), I don’t see how each unique code could be calculated in some way to 666. Bottom line, if this ever becomes an oppressive technology, required by some government, I can simply take it out.
– Revelation 13:16 – And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads.
– Revelation 13:17 – And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
– Revelation 13:18 – Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. (666)
Q: How big is the implant?
A: It’s a cylinder 13mm long by 3mm in diameter. The chips pets get implanted are smaller, at 2mm by 12mm long.
Q: Why the hand, and your left hand to boot?
A: The reason I put it in my hand is the very short read range. To be useful, I need to be able to easily place the chip within range of the reader. If I had the chip in my arm or leg, that would make for some awkward stares from neighbors as I danced around on my front porch trying to get my chip to read. As far as why I chose my left hand, I reach for my car door handle with my left hand, and I can get used to opening my front door with my left as well. Plus, being right handed, my left hand is far less likely to get crushed, mutilated, or otherwise damaged… and I’m sure granules of crushed glass, silicon, and other metals could cause health complications, aside from having a crushed hand.
Q: Did you do it yourself?
A: Hell no. A client of mine is a doctor and we traded services. Because of the implant’s size, a scalpel was used to make a small incision and place the implant just below the surface of the skin. The smaller 2mm by 12mm implants can be injected with a large needle, just like they do at the vet office for pets.
Q: Is this a hoax?
A: Come on, I have better things to do than make things up. Here’s a quick video I took with my crappy pentax digital camera, showing basic operation. A friend converted it to a much smaller standard QuickTime file for me.
Here’s a large, high res picture of the implant site as of 03-24-2005 4:00pm PST.
Q: I have questions, how can I contact you?
A: You have to pass a test first. Don’t worry, it’s easy. Take the domain name of this website, remove the top level domain, replace the period with an @ sign, then type the name of the greek god of dreams, followed by the letters “inc”, and then place a period and the letters “com”. If you can figure that out, you pass the test. Contact me by posting your questions on the RFID Toys forum: http://rfidtoys.net/forum
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Now it’s time to get on with buying a house that I can deck out with RFID sensors. But, probably before I get a chance to do that, I’m going to put a sensor in my car door. One small step for hand, one giant leap for keyless entry. Another thing I’m going to work on is figuring out how to write a custom GINA for Windows and putting a sensor into my keyboard so when I place my hands on it, the system will automatically log me in.
