I find VIP RFID tales annoying. I am not sure why. Maybe it is because the concept of VIP lounges in loud dance clubs appeals to me as much as the restroom at a fast food restaurant.
I have been invited into them a few times, for various reasons, but something about the “free booze and food” or “free people” does not make me feel like I have really achieved anything significant enough to give up something meaningful in return. I mean would I pay a few dollars for a beer instead of being tagged as a VIP and getting the beer for free?
In that context, a BBC reporter had a chip implanted as part of a “story” on Barcelona clubbing and using a chip to pay for drinks.
The idea of having my very own microchip implanted in my body appealed. I have always been an early adopter, so why not.
Why not? Why not? This guy is a “science producer” and he can not think of any risks from radio microchips that carry financial, let alone personal, information?
The night club offers its VIP clients the opportunity to have a syringe-injected microchip implanted in their upper arms that not only gives them special access to VIP lounges, but also acts as a debit account from which they can pay for drinks.
This sort of thing is handy for a beach club where bikinis and board shorts are the uniform and carrying a wallet or purse is really not practical.
Right, because you are really a VIP if no one can recognize you without your implants. I think he should have called himself a Very Unimportant Person with a Chip (VUPC).
The story’s perspective really started to get under my skin:
With a waiver in his hand [the owner of the club] Conrad asked me to sign my life away, confirming that if I wanted the chip removed it was my responsibility.
That seems worth it, no? They get to debit money from you without any transparency and you get…drinks.
The chip responds to a signal when a scanner is held near it and supplies its own unique ID number.
The number can then be linked to a database that is linked to other data, at the Baja beach club it make charges to a customers account.
If I want to leave the club then I can have it surgically removed – a pretty simple procedure similar to having it put in.
Sounds so painless. I can think of nothing less VIP-like than needing implants linked to a database, linked to other data, that charges an account. Then again, as I said, I have never really found the VIP clubbing concept appealing. Whether whisked in on a red carpet or allowed to sneak in through the back door, I would never go with an implant chip for VIP access especially if it required waiving all rights.
The real pain was the sore head the following day after a night on an open bar tab.
Uh, yeah. I think he means the real point of the story…