By: Alexis Campestre & Austin Bankston
Radio frequency identification (RFID) refers to an automated data collection technology that uses radio frequency waves to transfer data between a reader and a tag to identify, track and locate a tagged item.[1] There are two main types of RFID sensors: active and passive. Active RFIDs typically have an embedded power source and continuously broadcast information in real-time, whereas passive RFIDs do not require an internal power source and broadcast information only when activated or called upon by an RFID reader. Early exploration of the potential use of radio frequency technology for the purpose of identification and tracking began in the 1950s, primarily with military aircraft transponders.[2] It was not until the 1970s when RFID technology gained widespread use in many industries, including animal and vehicle tracking, factory automation, and electronic toll collection.
Today’s RFID chips are commonplace in industry, miniaturized (even microscopic), adaptive, and much more advanced in capability than chips of the past. Now a growing trend in Sweden, you can get your own RFID chip implanted in your hand for as little as $180.[3] Increasingly, RFID chip implantation is a requirement for some employers; meanwhile, there is a movement to prohibit such hiring practices, as seen in a bill passed in the state of Indiana in February 2020, making it the 12th state to pass such legislation.
There is little doubt that RFID technology has created efficiencies in business, from inventory management to improved security protocols, but does it make sense for human consumption as well? In this paper we tease apart the controversy of human RFID implants and provide a clear explanation (no tinfoil hats here) of the realized and potential pros, cons, and limitations of human implantation of RFID chips.
For RFID chips in Humans
An RFID chip could contain useful information such as credit cards, driver’s license, passports, emergency contact information, and more. People could use their implants for many of their daily activities including opening doors, turning on lights, unlocking cars, buying groceries, etc. There are reader apps, like NFC Tools Pro App, which allow people to edit the data on the chip with an app, so it’s technically possible to reprogram the chip at the end of the day[4]. The user chooses what to put on the chip and is able to provide restrictions on who can read the data and when it can be accessed. Additionally, the chip could transmit a person’s credentials as they walk through a security checkpoint. This application could make long lines for checking out at a store or waiting for public transportation a thing of the past. An RFID implant allows consumers to have a digital identity into the real world.
The beneficial applications include tracking people, identifying their case history, automatic data collection and transfer, and sensors for monitoring patients.[5] RFID chips can be useful tools, especially in emergency situations where instant access to the right information can mean the difference between life and death. Medical professionals would only have to scan the hand of a sick, confused patient to have access to valuable medical information. RFID implants could allow medical personnel access to health information for those patients with Alzheimer’s and are unable to communicate. There are many promising applications of RFID in healthcare. This technology will allow doctors to store a patient’s medical history including crucial information like blood type, allergies, relevant disorders, etc. Using RFID could improve patient care and decrease tragic events due to lack of medical history and data collection on patient’s care.
Aside from healthcare, a major benefit is how RFID chips could help with gun related problems. Some companies like Smith and Wesson, and Browning have already developed an implant-firearm system that would make a firearm functional only to the individual implanted with its corresponding microchip.[6] A scanner in the gun would be designed to recognize the owner. This system effectively avoids dangerous situations in which a stolen weapon ends up in the wrong hands or a weapon accidently falls into the hands of a child.
Against RFID Chips in Humans
Security Challenges
Despite the benefits and efficiencies provided to society at large via RFID technology, there remain questions and concerns regarding ethical issues surrounding security, ethics, and privacy. Currently RFID chips implanted in humans are used for primarily basic tasks, such as storing emergency contact details, opening doors, and buying a ticket for the train. Sweden has seen relatively widespread adoption of RFID implants compared to other countries. This is attributed to Swedes having a higher trust in digital technologies and authority relative to other countries. There are now many ways for chipped Swedes to swipe their way through their day, including accessing their local gym, purchasing tickets, and riding the train[7]. The European travel and tourism conglomerate, TUI, has a location in Stockholm with over 100 of its 500 employees who have voluntarily had a chip implanted in their hand, allowing them easy swipe access to company vehicles, phones, work stations, and building facilities. Yet despite the adoption by over 20% of the employees at TUI, there are strangled cries of dissent and “head-shaking.” Concerns over privacy weigh large. A top data protection officer at TUI stated “he doesn’t wear an implant himself, out of principle and for fear of allergies.” The EU Parliament has also tussled with the privacy aspects of RFID chip implants and concluded that the chips are “not necessarily secure” and “subject to eavesdropping, cloning, deactivation and manipulation.” [8]
Consider the following scenario:
HumanChipCorp LLC’s board of directors is meeting with a competing company to discuss a potential buyout. Sally, the CEO of HumanChipCorp LLC, recently received an RFID chip implanted in her hand, on which she saved all of her passwords for everything from the company’s financial accounts to her own grocery store loyalty program. She is only just getting accustomed to the nubby feeling between her thumb and forefinger, and is enjoying the idea of not needing to reset a password ever again. During the meeting, her hand happens to brush against one of her competitors’ cell phones laid on the conference room table, allowing the competitor to instantly gain access to all of the company’s most secure data. The competitor takes the secure information and creates a spoof replica frequency (Halamka, J. et al, 2006)[9] from Sally’s RFID chip, thus allowing the competitor free reign to the most secure information and data at HumanChipCorp LLC.
These concerns can be easily extended to any number of scenarios, including a thief shuffling through a crowd of people, gathering ID data to commit identity fraud; or a drug addict walking down a hospital hallway, scanning for secure medical records and obtaining unauthorized access to narcotics. In every case, the outcome: horrendous potential of everything from petty theft to existential id fraud (Halamka 2006). Due to the fact that there is currently no way for someone to know if their chip has been scanned, recourse and recompense becomes increasingly challenging.
Privacy & Ethics
According to Dan Lohrmann, at www.govtech.com, human chip implants will be the next big privacy debate of the 2020s. Chips implanted in humans today carry only about a kilobyte of information (or a few hundred characters), which would seem to be hardly enough information for any serious crime or privacy violation, but the paper Chips, tags and scanners: Ethical challenges for radio frequency identification[10] points out that many of the features and benefits of RFID chips are also their weaknesses:
- Tags are small enough to be hidden from the people carrying them, and they can potentially be scanned by unseen, distant readers.
- The greater the capacity of the microchip, the more personal or sensitive information it can store.
- Tags are becoming so durable that users have little control over how to disable them.
Microscopic RFID chips have the ability to be hidden on or inside of a person without their knowledge and without any ability to disable the device, thus rendering the individual with reduced control over their livelihood, as well as the grave potential for nefarious or negligent mishandling. Perhaps of greatest concern should be the possibility of eventually requiring an implanted ID chip to interact with modern society, including gainful employment, renting an apartment, or even opening a bank account, let alone traveling across international borders. Where such a slippery slope may lead is anyone’s guess, but left unchecked, these chips could wreak havoc on society.
Conclusion
Overall, the drawbacks of RFID chips in humans are outweighed by positive attributes. RFID chips increase users’ efficiency in daily activities. For everyday convenience, RFID chips provide the ability to unlock and start cars, pay for items, open doors, give parents information about their children’s location, and send crucial medical data to healthcare professionals. This technology could even prove lifesaving when immediate care is required without background knowledge of the patient. Additionally, using RFID chips in limiting the firing of a gun could effectively prevent dangerous situations in which a stolen weapon ends up in the wrong hands or a weapon accidently falls into the hands of a child.
Like anything, there is always a potential for misuse, abuse, and corruption by power-seekers. Widespread RFID implantation in human beings is no exception. Proponents argue the RFID chip’s greatest security threat may be the weakness of the signal emitted by the chip, yet as more money flows to related projects it is unlikely these chips will remain simplistic for long. The emergence of this RFID in humans will revolutionize how healthcare workers care for patients, how payments are processed and authorized, and most importantly it will make consumers safer with a unique identity number.
Works Cited
Brown, A. (2016, July 22). Human Microchipping: An Unbiased Look at the Pros and Cons. Retrieved April 16, 2020, from https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/human-microchipping-an-unbiased-look-at-the-pros-and-cons-ba8f979ebd96/
Chip Implants. (2019). Retrieved April 16, 2020, from https://dangerousthings.com/category/implants/
Gartner. (2019, January 3). Radio-frequency Identification (rfid). Retrieved April 16, 2020, from https://www.gartner.com/en/information-technology/glossary/radio-frequency-identification-rfid
Glasser, D. J., Goodman, K. W., & Einspruch, N. G. (2007). Chips, tags and scanners: Ethical challenges for radio frequency identification. Ethics and Information Technology, 9(2), 101-109.
Grauer, Y. (2018, January 03). A practical guide to microchip implants. Retrieved May 03, 2020, from https://arstechnica.com/features/2018/01/a-practical-guide-to-microchip-implants/
Halamka, J., Juels, A., Stubblefield, A., & Westhues, J. (2006). The security implications of VeriChip cloning. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 13(6), 601-607.
Läsker, K. (2019, October 25). The Human Microchipping Trend Sweeping Sweden – DER SPIEGEL – International. Retrieved April 16, 2020, from https://www.spiegel.de/international/business/the-human-microchipping-trend-sweeping-sweden-a-1292924.html
Ward, D., Taylor, R., Speight, A., Flohr, J., & Baca, O. (2009, September 20). A Brief History of RFID . Retrieved April 16, 2020, from http://www.u.arizona.edu/~obaca/rfid/history.html
Werber, B., Baggia, A., & Žnidaršič, A. (2018, May 1). Factors Affecting the Intentions to Use RFID Subcutaneous Microchip Implants for Healthcare Purposes. Retrieved April 15, 2020, from
[1] Gartner. (2019, January 3). Radio-frequency Identification (rfid). Retrieved April 16, 2020, from https://www.gartner.com/en/information-technology/glossary/radio-frequency-identification-rfid
[2] Ward , D., Taylor, R., Speight, A., Flohr, J., & Baca, O. (2009, September 20). A Brief History of RFID . Retrieved April 16, 2020, from http://www.u.arizona.edu/~obaca/rfid/history.html
[3] Chip Implants. (2019). Retrieved April 16, 2020, from https://dangerousthings.com/category/implants/
[4] Grauer, Y. (2018, January 03). A practical guide to microchip implants. Retrieved May 03, 2020, from https://arstechnica.com/features/2018/01/a-practical-guide-to-microchip-implants/
[5] Werber, B., Baggia, A., & Žnidaršič, A. (2018, May 1). Factors Affecting the Intentions to Use RFID Subcutaneous Microchip Implants for Healthcare Purposes. Retrieved April 15, 2020, from https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/orga/51/2/article-p121.xml
[6] Brown, A. (2016, July 22). Human Microchipping: An Unbiased Look at the Pros and Cons. Retrieved April 16, 2020, from https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/human-microchipping-an-unbiased-look-at-the-pros-and-cons-ba8f979ebd96/
[7] Läsker, K. (2019, October 25). The Human Microchipping Trend Sweeping Sweden – DER SPIEGEL – International. Retrieved April 16, 2020, from https://www.spiegel.de/international/business/the-human-microchipping-trend-sweeping-sweden-a-1292924.html
[8] Läsker, K. (2019, October 25). The Human Microchipping Trend Sweeping Sweden – DER SPIEGEL – International. Retrieved April 16, 2020, from https://www.spiegel.de/international/business/the-human-microchipping-trend-sweeping-sweden-a-1292924.html
[9] Halamka, J., Juels, A., Stubblefield, A., & Westhues, J. (2006). The security implications of VeriChip cloning. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 13(6), 601-607.
[10] Glasser, D. J., Goodman, K. W., & Einspruch, N. G. (2007). Chips, tags and scanners: Ethical challenges for radio frequency identification. Ethics and Information Technology, 9(2), 101-109.
MSBA 