You have been assimilated

In yet another major leap to bring us closer to the world of Neuromancer, judicial workers in Mexico have been implanted with RFID chips. The idea is apparently to give the workers access to secure areas through the chips, but since corruption is a major problem in Mexico, there are also some thoughts to being able to track their whereabouts at all times.

Now, I’m just a cave man, and your modern world scares and confuses me, but the thought of having my own personal radio station embedded into my skin kind of creeps me out, especially since there’s no way to turn the damn things off. Meaning that anybody with an RFID reader will be able to track you like the slab of meat you are.

So in the arsenal of ways to circumvent security in techno-thrillers, we need to add “cut out RFID chip” to “cut off hand and keep warm to foil fingerprint reader” and “take out iris and implant in heroin-addicted stooge to fool eye scanner.” At least removing an RFID chip should be much less gruesome than eyes and hands.

Coincidentally, Wired has an interesting article about deployment of RFID-enabled groceries.