INTRODUCING the credit card you simply cannot be parted from. Implanted under the skin of its owner鈥檚 arm, the planned device is based on an injectable RFID (radio-frequency identification) chip made by Applied Digital Solutions of Palm Beach, Florida.
When waved over an electronic reader, the chip emits a unique identity number. Because the chip is impossible to lose, ADS claims it will help eliminate identity theft.
But security experts say that criminals could easily clone the tag鈥檚 unique signal by recording it and playing it back. Privacy campaigners fear the chip will allow advertisers to track people鈥檚 shopping habits with undreamed-of accuracy, or pave the way for government surveillance.
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ADS argues that cloning a signal would be extremely difficult because it is encrypted, and that chips could be reprogrammed in situ if needed. It dismisses suggestions of government tracking as 鈥渇ar-fetched鈥�.
MasterCard is conducting trials of RFID chips in 16,000 credit cards in the US, but says people are 鈥渘ot ready鈥� for implants.