Zeno's Bar & Grill

An article by Anna Bahney in Thursday’s NY Times (“High Tech, Under the Skin”) reported on individuals who’ve had RFID chips (radio frequency identification devices) implanted in their bodies. The chips can communicate with scanners to perform tasks like unlocking doors at the wave of a hand, or—more creepily—can be used to track individuals. Plenty of people are up in arms about the privacy issues that could arise from RFIDs placed in clothing and products, never mind humans. But the people getting implants seem to view it as an almost artistic pursuit or pushing boundaries. One fellow described in the NY Times article is such a fan of computer networking that he has tattoos of data-input jacks on his spine. It reminded me of that weird movie from a few years back: Existenz, with Jude Law and Jennifer Jason Leigh, where they had these bizarre “bioports” in their backs that they could plug into for the ultimate virtual reality experience. I guess compared to that, the RFID chip in the hand isn’t so bad.

--Melanie