Wisconsin Company First in US to Implant Microchips in Employees

​“We’ll come up, scan the item,” he explained, while showing how the process will work at an actual break room market kiosk. “We’ll hit pay with a credit card, and it’s asking to swipe my proximity payment now. I’ll hold my hand up, just like my cell phone, and it’ll pay for my product.”

More than 50 employees are having the devices implanted starting next week. Each chip, which is implanted between a person’s thumb and forefinger, is about the size of a single grain of rice.

Source: 100% Fed Up

DCGazette

What could possibly go wrong!

They have the same ability to be hacked as your phone does. I know a lot of people argue this point, and hacking is a huge concern for me, too. But as the article points out, they could already pay with their phones, something a lot of people do in stores these days. And your phone has a strong possibility of being hacked. Yes, you too, Apple users. 

In this instance, there is a lot of information the company could get from this chip. What are you buying and how often? How often are you going to certain areas and for how long? How many breaks are you taking? How often do you use the bathroom? Are you making healthy choices in the vending machines? 

This information could be great on a security note. But it could be bad when the company wants to cut costs and decides you bought one too many bags of chips, therefore you are a health risk, and it would cost effective to cut you loose and save money on your health insurance. 

And what point do companies start using these chips to track employees after work? Maybe they would be really interested to know how much partying you do on your free time. Maybe they want to know if you go for hikes or jogs or watch an entire season of Game of Thrones instead. Maybe they want to know what neighborhoods you spend time in. 

These chips could end up doing a whole lot of things. The article even states the chip uses wireless RFID, which is used to track packages in transit. While it doesn't have GPS, no one is going to claim that in the future they won't have GPS and/or Bluetooth. And let's face it, some bosses, if they could get it, they would, and they most certainly would check to see how their employees spend their free time. I've had bosses in my lifetime that would have jumped at the chance. And I'm sure you have, too.

Yes, your phone has all that crap, too. But your phone isn't wired directly to your boss's computer. And you could always leave it at home. 

Things are different these days. People rarely stay with a company for the duration of their career and retire from there anymore. Most people bounce around. Sometimes it's because of sudden department closures, which are huge in the area I live in. And sometimes it's the only way for an employee to advance in their career field.  So having a chip implanted in your employees doesn't sound very cost effective to me, either. 

​Either way, no thanks. I'll pass. 

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