A wisconsin tech company has become the first in the US to offer a ‘voluntary microchip program’ for all its employees, and celebrated after implanting half of its workforce.
Employees were seen smiling, obtaining chocolate bars from vending machines and wearing T-shirts saying ‘I got chipped’.
The company, Three Square Market, literally placed Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) microchips under the skin of 41 employees, placing the devices between the thumb and forefinger.
A closer look at the microchip! Lots of national & international media here to see employees get chipped. They're calling it a "chip party"! pic.twitter.com/jmLdF9owET
— Tim Elliott (@WISN_Tim) August 1, 2017
Guess who got microchipped!? Hurt a bit. Not too bad. Like a mean pinch. @WISN12News pic.twitter.com/GMVVJoAC4e
— Tim Elliott (@WISN_Tim) August 1, 2017
The chips will allow employees to use copy machines, other devices, and open doors by waving their hands at them, according to a company statement.
Got my microchip at Blue Square Market in River Falls! Sorry for the somewhat graphic pic. Hurt for a second but feels fine now! @WISN12News pic.twitter.com/ndNvPNkwH8
— Tim Elliott (@WISN_Tim) August 1, 2017
While the company has stressed the program is voluntary and that the devices are not traceable, the comments of those overseeing the program clearly indicate that they consider the technology to be more wide reaching than obtaining snacks in the workplace.
“I think it can control everything. I gave an example earlier, [that] when you get pulled over, you just stick out your hand and [a police officer] will scan your hand. You don’t have to carry anything,” software engineer Sam Bangston told reporters.
Yeah… no thanks Sam.
“Obviously this drew a lot of attention and a lot of feedback of ‘Oh, they’re going to be tracking you down the road.’ They can’t, there is no GPS added in this and there can’t be in this particular chip,” Melissa Timmons from the sales department added.
Right… except RFID chips can be tracked at short distances, that’s the point in them. And what’s more, the information stored on them can be accessed by anyone who knows how… including hackers and spies.
Even more creepy was a comment from President and CEO of Three Square Market Patrick McMullen, who told reporters “There are governments that run central banks they were one of the first ones to call us to say we’ve got to control our employees and we need to have certain access levels and we can’t have that compromise, and they saw that as a solution.”
Lovely, chip everyone to ‘control’ them huh? The government central banks are doing it, so what possible concerns could everyday Americans have?
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