For these 'cyborgs', keys are so yesterday
For these 'cyborgs', keys are so yesterday
AFP By Hui Min Neo and Romain Fonsegrives
5 hours ago
Berlin (AFP) - Punching in security codes to deactivate
the alarm at his store became a thing of the past for Jowan Oesterlund when he
implanted a chip into his hand about 18 months ago.
"When I walk into my studio, I just wave my hand at
the alarm, and the alarm turns off," the tattoo artist said.
"Whenever someone shows up with security clearance,
he will wave and the alarm is deactivated, the lights are turned on... it will
start up the computer, the cash machine and so on," he added.
Oesterlund is one of the small but growing number of
people around the world who has a grain-sized NFC (Near Field Communications)
chip embedded in him.
In fact, so convinced is he that "this is the
future" that he has two of them, one in his hand and the other in his arm.
"One year ago it was 'that's just stupid', or 'wow
that's just awesome'. But now multinational companies are looking into
it," he said, pointing to cybersecurity firm Kaspersky as an example.
The renowned cybersecurity company had brought in
Oesterlund to carry out a live demonstration of chip implantation at the IFA
consumer electronics fair in Berlin which opens to the public Friday.
The nervous volunteer is Rainer Bock, who works at
Kaspersky. After Oesterlund used a needle to put a chip under Bock's skin, the
new member of the "cyborg" club said: "It didn't hurt."
- 'Curiosity a factor' -
With a memory of just 880 bytes, the chips are far from
the science fiction equivalent of data powerhouses carrying billions of
encrypted secret documents.
Rather, they tend to have specific functions, such as
unlocking a door or hooking up to an app on a smartphone.
Despite the limited uses, human chip implant manufacturer
Dangerous Things told AFP that there are now around 10,000 "cyborgs"
-- or humans with digital chips in them -- across the globe.
The phenomenon is not new, with a club in Barcelona
offering such implants to its members as early as 2004, allowing them to gain
entrance and pay for their drinks with it.
But its popularity has now accelerated with the ubiquity
of smartphones, which can communicate with the chips.
Those who have done the procedure admit that for now,
novelty is its key draw.
Evgeny Chereshnev, who also works for Kaspersky, got his
chip about seven months ago.
"It felt weird for a couple of weeks... Then I
started to understand that I've forgotten what it is to carry a badge to work,
I've forgotten what it means to open a door with a key," he said,
describing how with a simple wave of his hand, he now enters a secure office
building without punching in codes or tapping a security card at the entrance.
But such implants are not without risks, warns
Kaspersky's European research director Marco Preuss, saying that a smartphone
placed close to the chip for instance, could easily pick up data.
Oesterlund said he had also weighed up the risk of
someone trying to steal his chip through extreme violent means, but concluded
that criminals were unlikely to go that far.
"Chopping off a hand is a really amateur way to
steal something," he said.
Those who have joined the "cyborg" club believe
that getting in early allows them to secure a place at the forefront of a
potentially life-changing development.
"Curiosity is a factor," said Hannes Sjoeblad,
who also has a chip implanted.
But he added that a key aim is "to explore this
technology before the government starts doing this".
"We want to contribute to the discovery of this
platform. That is very exciting in itself."
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