We collected stories of real heroes who have been using their bodies as a platform for technological experiments for several years. The first time a person was implanted with a microchip was back in the late 90s. Over the past ten years the technology has become more accessible. On the one hand, interest is growing, on the other, many are still afraid of “biohackers” with chips inside. Let's figure out how implant chips work, has the IT business in Russia and the world responded to the next trend, will microchips become an everyday gadget in each of us or will they remain under the skin of a select few?
BBC Photo: X-ray of the implant
BBC photo: Patrick Powman
George Held
Last year, British-Polish company Walletmor became the first organization to sell implantable payment chips. In any case, that's what its representatives say. According to Walletmor founder and CEO Wojtek Paprota, the Walletmor chip works everywhere where contactless payments are accepted. It weighs less than a gram and is a tiny microchip with an antenna. In its manufacture, a biopolymer is used - a natural material very similar to plastic. It was the services of the Walletmor company that our first hero, a security guard from the Netherlands, Patrick Pauman, used. The official website of Walletmor even lists the cost of the procedure. Pay about 250 euros and the chip is under your skin. The company uses NFC (near-field communication) technology - a contactless payment system. Same as in smartphones. Other payment implants rely on RFID (radio-frequency identification), which is commonly used in physical contactless debit and credit cards.
Screenshot of the official website of Walletmor
There is no official production of chips for people in Russia yet. In our country, chips for humans are outside the legal framework, and their use is not yet regulated by law. There are characters who, for a certain amount of money, undertake to insert a stuffed implant under a person’s skin, but at the same time do not bear any responsibility for the consequences. You can order a chip from abroad, including from China. Some implants require minor surgery, while others are inserted with a special needle. And even without talking about potential health risks (possible infection or an allergic reaction to a foreign body), the main concern is information security. Will these chips become more advanced and will they contain personal data. If so, how will this information be protected? Will it be possible to track the location of the chip owner?
On the one hand, a chip implant provides advantages - speed and ease of payment. On the other hand, if implanted chips contain more personal information over time, additional legislation will be required to protect such personal data. Wouldn't someone want to conduct real "surveillance" of the owners of the chips, like using GPS? There is certainly a dark side to this technology that can be abused. And in general, how ethical is it to “chip” people like animals? It’s one thing if a person agrees to this voluntarily, it’s another thing if in the future “chipping” could become a routine “vaccination”, like a flu shot.
However, there are also “good examples”. Stephen Northam, Associate Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Winchester (UK), founded BioTeq. Since 2017, contactless chip implants have been created here. BioTeq devices are intended primarily for people with disabilities; chips help automatically open doors. According to Northam, requests for installation are coming in daily and the company has already implanted over 500 chips in the UK, making the daily lives of people with disabilities more comfortable.
BBC Photo: X-ray of the implant
GUARD FROM THE NETHERLANDS
37-year-old Patrick Powman attracts attention wherever he pays for purchases: in supermarkets, cafes, restaurants. He does not take his bank card with him and may even forget his smartphone. To pay, he just needs to move his left hand to the contactless card reader. At the same moment, a tiny light bulb lights up under his skin and the payment goes through. “The reaction of the cashiers is priceless ,” Powman tells the BBC. Paumen, an ordinary security guard from the Netherlands, acquired his superpower in 2019. Then he implanted a microchip with NFC technology under his skin. The size of the foreign body is slightly larger than a grain of buckwheat. “Implantation under the skin does not hurt, as if you were slightly pinched,” says Powman, whose body already has more than 30 different implant chips.
TOP MANAGER FROM ST. PETERSBURG
George Held is a native St. Petersburger, and until August 2021 he was the executive vice president of one of the large telecommunications companies in Russia. He often talks to the media about his chips under his skin. Held embedded the first NFC chip under the skin more than 14 years ago. With the touch of his hand, he opens the doors, enters the subway, and pays for his order in a cafe. In one of his interviews, George Held said that his graduation project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) was related to biohacking. He worked on creating microchips for implantation into the human body. “I wanted to implant the development into myself, as scientists should. But in the states it is difficult to do this: surgeons asked for a certificate from a medical organization - this is an expensive procedure, and it would take 5-6 years. In the end, I found a tattoo artist who inserted the piercing - at the beginning 2000s, it was terribly popular. He agreed, and over the next few years we improved the technology, changed the software and found different applications for our development,” Held said.
PIERING MASTER FROM MOSCOW
Margot Kramer said that she implanted a capsule into herself, which became her calling card. The girl wrote down a link to her business telegram channel on a chip under her skin. "I got myself a chip because it's cool. I like to shock a little, to surprise people. I love modern technology and cybernetics. Plus, it's not some complicated modification that will affect your life. The chip doesn't stop me from doing an MRI , go through security, does not raise questions at the airport,” Kramer admitted.SIBIRIAN PAVEL
Novosibirsk resident Pavel also took the risk of getting himself a microchip. He ordered it on the Internet. “I implanted it using a regular veterinary syringe, which I bought at a pet store. These are used, for example, for microchipping animals. I first made markings on the skin with a marker. Due to the coating, my chip had a shelf life of three years, since it was ordered from the Chinese , but was flashed through a USB reader on a computer,” said the experimenter. Pavel recorded a link to the VKontakte page on his chip, but has not yet decided to do more.OPPORTUNITIES AND RISKS
No one has yet begun to count how many people with chips under their skin there are in Russia and in the world. Some turn to foreign specialized companies, others - to surgeons, others - to familiar tattoo artists, and the most crazy ones even perform such an operation on themselves.Last year, British-Polish company Walletmor became the first organization to sell implantable payment chips. In any case, that's what its representatives say. According to Walletmor founder and CEO Wojtek Paprota, the Walletmor chip works everywhere where contactless payments are accepted. It weighs less than a gram and is a tiny microchip with an antenna. In its manufacture, a biopolymer is used - a natural material very similar to plastic. It was the services of the Walletmor company that our first hero, a security guard from the Netherlands, Patrick Pauman, used. The official website of Walletmor even lists the cost of the procedure. Pay about 250 euros and the chip is under your skin. The company uses NFC (near-field communication) technology - a contactless payment system. Same as in smartphones. Other payment implants rely on RFID (radio-frequency identification), which is commonly used in physical contactless debit and credit cards.
There is no official production of chips for people in Russia yet. In our country, chips for humans are outside the legal framework, and their use is not yet regulated by law. There are characters who, for a certain amount of money, undertake to insert a stuffed implant under a person’s skin, but at the same time do not bear any responsibility for the consequences. You can order a chip from abroad, including from China. Some implants require minor surgery, while others are inserted with a special needle. And even without talking about potential health risks (possible infection or an allergic reaction to a foreign body), the main concern is information security. Will these chips become more advanced and will they contain personal data. If so, how will this information be protected? Will it be possible to track the location of the chip owner?
On the one hand, a chip implant provides advantages - speed and ease of payment. On the other hand, if implanted chips contain more personal information over time, additional legislation will be required to protect such personal data. Wouldn't someone want to conduct real "surveillance" of the owners of the chips, like using GPS? There is certainly a dark side to this technology that can be abused. And in general, how ethical is it to “chip” people like animals? It’s one thing if a person agrees to this voluntarily, it’s another thing if in the future “chipping” could become a routine “vaccination”, like a flu shot.
However, there are also “good examples”. Stephen Northam, Associate Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Winchester (UK), founded BioTeq. Since 2017, contactless chip implants have been created here. BioTeq devices are intended primarily for people with disabilities; chips help automatically open doors. According to Northam, requests for installation are coming in daily and the company has already implanted over 500 chips in the UK, making the daily lives of people with disabilities more comfortable.
