Does Credit-Card Implant Provoke Criticism? |
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The increasing incidence of identity fraud with credit cards costs the finance industry more than $50 billion a year and consumers more than $5 billion. A number of security measures like biometrics and other safeguard technologies have failed to completely stop identity theft. The latest concept in providing maximum security against this crime is an under-the-skin implant that enables credit card payments via radio signals. However, this is not being well accepted by privacy lobbyists and security experts.
The chip has the potential to store PC and cell-phone log-ins, medical information, and wireless car and building entry codes. Veripay's opponents believe that it has technological limitations, invades the wearer's privacy and is perhaps less secure than a conventional credit card. Identity Number RFID tags are gaining popularity with large companies that need to manage stock. RFID tags are devices that emit a unique identity number when scanned by a radio frequency "reader" that in turn gives a signal to activate and power the tag. Thirty Mexican patients were implanted with RFID chips in July 2003 to allow instant access to their medical records, and "subdermal" tags have been used to track pets and livestock for more than 10 years. The tag mechanism has also been used in wireless credit card payments. For example, ExxonMobil has tags on keyrings to quicken gas-station transactions. ADS was the first company to introduce subdermal chips as a security measure in making payments for debit and credit cards. The skepticism pertained to whether anyone would go in for another implant if the code was cracked. The Threat from Bogus Receiver Although there exists the threat of a bogus reader that accesses signals from the tag and "clones" them, decoding and reproducing the signals is not a simple task. But people already carry gadgets that have important information on them, so Veripay is only another step forward in maximized security. Most people would rather cancel their credit card account than gouge a chip out of their arm. Advertisers on the other hand would benefit by using these chips to get data on consumer shopping habits. A credit card network based on RFID chip implants also could create an infrastructure for potential government surveillance. Many privacy advocates are against RFID implants because they create databases on individuals without permission from consumers. Several privacy and civil liberty groups have called for a voluntary halt on RFID tagging until a formal technology assessment by stakeholders, including consumers, takes place. Signatories to the petition include the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Privacy International and the Foundation for Information Policy Research, a British think-tank. |
