Amal Graafstra is a friend of ours who is the author of the do it yourself RFID book, RFID Toys, and owner of txtgroups.com.
Amal has experienced a decent amount of internet fame for being one of the first people to implant RFID tags into his body. Amal, is far from wierd or crazy, he’s a very down to earth guy who happens to like new technology and wasn’t afraid to insert a tiny glass bead into his hand. After all, it’s a pretty tame body mod compared to what many people do.
Amal has written an article about his experience experimenting with RFID called Hands On.
How radio-frequency identification and I got personal
When I open my front door, I don’t reach for a key. When I log into my computer, I don’t touch my keyboard. When I start my motorcycle, again, no key needed. Instead, I just wave my hand and I’m in business.
I was one of the first do-it-yourselfers to have a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag implanted under my skin. In fact, I have two—one between the thumb and index finger in my left hand, the other in the matching spot on my right hand.
So what’s a nice guy like me doing with a microchip in each of my hands? My life as an RFID guinea pig started in early 2005. At the time I was managing servers for medical facilities around Seattle, a job for which I carried around a ring of keys to almost 100 different doors and drawers.
That bulky key ring got me thinking. It struck me that modern keys are just crude identification devices, little changed in centuries. Even if each lock were unique—most aren’t—keys can be copied in any hardware store and, once distributed, are hard to control.
