Exploring RFID implants
Yes, the mainstream media have picked up story now, and from what he’s been posting, Oxer’s been quite the media-sensation, at least for a day or two.
Without duplicating Pseudoscience’s post too much, I wanted to explore the state of RFID implants in a tad more depth.
I couldn’t find details on what implant Oxer got; I suspect he used a veterinary RFID tag.
What I did find were his posts on investigating RFID implants and the man that inspired him.
Amal Graafstra has tags in the webbing of each hand:
His left hand contains a 3mm by 13mm EM4102 glass RFID tag that was implanted by a cosmetic surgeon using a scalpel to make a very small cut, into which the implant was placed. His right hand contains a 2mm by 12mm Philips HITAG 2048 S implant with crypto-security features and 255 bytes of read/write memory storage space. It was implanted by a family doctor using an Avid injector kit like the ones used on pets.
Like a good Grinder he’s documented the whole process of his body-mods, with photos sets of both implants, and video of the second.. He’s even gone on to write a book about DIY RFID hacking.
And how expensive was his first step into exploring RFID implants?
The chip itself is only $1.50, and I was able to get a 125KHz sensor/reader for $50, so the total project cost so far is about $60 with shipping and everything.
So it’s not really about the money, but the willingness to experiment with technology and see to what uses it can be put. Kudos to both Gentlemen!
Yes, it looks a tage for a pet (I’ve seen them inserted in person). Interestingly enough on those chips, each manufacturer uses a different wavelength/reader (so if your pet gets lost and they scan with a different reader, the chip will NOT show up and you are SOL).
I wonder if he has to be careful where he lays his hands when checking out at stores – can the magnetic pads used to disarm security tags interfere with the chip?
Have you seen this? More info here.
Great update M1k3y!
“Interestingly enough on those chips, each manufacturer uses a different wavelength/reader”
That seems to be more of a problem in the US than elsewhere. There are international standards for implantable tags that are followed just about everywhere *except* the US, where they are typically 125KHz as opposed to the standard 134.2KHz. In Australia, for example, all vet-implanted tags are interoperable because they are required to follow the standard. In the US there is a combination of tags with the older 125KHz tags being slowly phased out and ISO-standard tags being used in their place. As a result vets in the US may need multiple readers on hand to check for the different types of tag that may be in an animal.
There are also big variations in encoding and modulation schemes, as well as feature-specific command sets – just to make things even more complicated!
[...] better you know of out there, EMAIL ME! m1k3y AT grinding DOT be). We’ve mentioned Jon Oxer on here a few times, but the details were [...]
[...] also worth pointing out the Practical Ardruino book and blog, co-authored by Jon Oxer (who we’ve featured here before for his RFID implant.) Share and [...]