Implanting microchips into the human body is no longer a science fiction concept, but a reality. Walletmor, a British-Polish business, recently announced that it was the first to commercialise such technology.
The implant, according to Wojtek Paprota, the company’s founder and CEO, may be used to pay bills everywhere contactless payments are accepted.
Walletmor’s chip is made out of a tiny microchip and an antenna wrapped in a biopolymer — a naturally generated material similar to plastic — and weighs less than a gramme and is around the size of a grain of rice, according to a BBC story.
As per the company executive, the microchip is safe. He also stated that it functions immediately after implantation and has received regulatory approval.
He also stated that it would remain firmly in place. It also does not necessitate the usage of a battery or any other type of energy. According to the company, more than 500 chips have been sold so far.
Near-field communication, or NFC, is the contactless payment method used by Walletmor in cellphones.
Radio-frequency identification (RFID), a technology similar to that used in contactless debit and credit cards, is employed in other payment implants.
While having such a chip inside the human body may sound intriguing, respondents’ top worries in a 2021 survey performed across the United Kingdom and the European Union were invasiveness and security.
The concern with such chips is whether they will grow ever more advanced in the future and be filled with a person’s private data. And, as a result, whether or not this information is secure, and whether a person may be followed.
Theodora Lau, one expert said that payment chips implanted in the body are simply an extension of the internet of things, a new way of interacting and exchanging data.
Although many people appreciate the idea since it makes paying for things faster and easier, she claims that the benefits must be matched against the risks, especially as integrated processors grow more capable of keeping our personal data.
Professor of policy, governance, and ethics at Reading University’s Henley Business School, Nada Kakabadse, is also concerned about the future of powerful embedded processors, according to the study.
The chips, which are about the size of a grain of rice, are implanted into the skin slightly above each user’s thumb with a syringe similar to that used for vaccinations.
But again, implanting chips in humans has privacy and security ramifications that extend far beyond public cameras, facial recognition, location tracking, driving habits, spending histories, and even data ownership, all of which represent significant barriers to the technology’s acceptance.