Toorcamp offers hackers chance for RFID implants
20 August, 2012
category: RFID
At this year’s Toorcamp, a hacker conference and retreat held in Washington State, some 500 or so attendees had the chance to witness the procedure of someone having an RFID implant placed beneath their skin, according to Forbes.
Set up in the open air, the “Implantation Station” enabled any camper willing to spend $30 and sign a liability waiver to have the implantation performed. A camper by the name of Andrew, who had the implantation procedure, performed it felt like it was only a short pinch, followed by a “weird feeling of a foreign body sliding into my hand.”
“I don’t have anything specific in mind, now, but I didn’t know when I’d have another opportunity to do it,” says Andrew. “And it’s a good excuse to start learning more about RFID.” Another young hacker who underwent the procedure at Toorcamp said he hopes to install an RFID access system at the door of his local hacker space.
Amal Graafstra, who is responsible for performing the procedures at the station, says the chips are more than a novelty or a hacker hobby. Graafstra had his first chip installed in 2005 by a doctor client of his IT services firm, and has since used them to access his home near Seattle, to turn on his motorcycle, to open a safe in his house, even to authenticate into his phone, that’s capable of near-field communications.
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