Chip Implants To Avoid Identity Frauds?

There have been some implementations that tend to try to protect identity like biometrics (retina identification) but they've failed to become widely available. The latest option available is a chip implant that goes under the skin and emits radio frequency signals as means of identifying the user. However, its acceptance will be doubtfully wide-ranging.

Privacy lobbyists and security experts doubt the usefulness and wonder about the risks that this technology implies. They doubt that it will stop identity theft completely and fear that the costs in terms of privacy will be too high. Nevertheless, the development of this technology continues and there have been presentation of the product all over the world.

How It Works

The chip implant is a highly advanced technology in credit cards and smart cards . At ID World 2003 in Paris, a US company introduced its rice-grain-sized chips as a mode of payment in spite of its previous proposal to implant GPS systems inside people being criticized. However it is said that its pay system, based on radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, is at best the only solution to end identity theft.

The chip can contain all kind of logins and passwords, medical information, building entry codes, bank accounts and thousands of other codes and information. However, the fears appear when it comes to privacy. What if the information becomes available to those that should not and they take advantage of the information or us it in detriment of the owner's interests?

Not So New

RFID tags are becoming popular, especially with those companies that need to control their stock of products. This device emits a unique identity number when scanned by a radio frequency reader which in turn gives a signal to activate and power the tag. Some stores even use it to replace code bar readers and cashiers. The customer just walks out the door, the reader checks the products that the customer picked and debits the amount from his bank account.

As to medical uses, recently thirty patients were implanted with RFID chips in to allow instant access to their medical records. And as regards animal uses, "sub-dermal" tags have been used to track pets and livestock for over 10 years. So, it can be said that the technology is not at all new. However, it is being improved and more and more information can be stored.

Other Uses

This tag mechanism has also been used for wireless credit card payment. At many stores, especially those with many clients where timing is of the essence, the system is used to hasten the payment transaction. Gas stations are an excellent example of this. Also some cities with subways where timing is an important issue, the passenger holding a special card in his wallet doesn't even have to pass it, he just walks by and the mechanism reads the card, charges it and allows the passenger to access the subway.