Implanted tech shows a lot of potential, but it’s only in the early stages of being useful in everyday life. We speak to double chip implantee Amal Graafstra to find out how the technology could get under our skin.

Wireless technology has come of age. Wi-Fi changed the way we connect to the internet, Bluetooth increased connectivity, now near field communication (NFC) may be the next iteration that could explode in to our everyday lives.

NFC technology is simple; it is a wireless , low-power link that operates over a short range and can transfer data between two devices. It has the potential to change what we carry with us on a daily basis.

NFC chips in phones, for example, could remove the wallet, the car key, train tickets and more.

The potential of this technology was acknowledged by Apple including it in its new Apple Pay system; and it has been in Android phones for years.

But, the technology can go much further than this. As Amal Graafstra has proven, it’s possible to have NFC embedded in our bodies.

The technologist has been living with an NFC chip in one hand for the last year. Implanted in his other hand is an RFID chip, the forerunner to the NFC technology.

Biohacking potential

Graafstra has been using the technology primarily to unlock doors in his home, although he says he has also used it for starting his motorbike, accessing a safe and turning on his computer.

As one of a growing number of biohackers implanting tech in their bodies, he believes the chips are about ease of life and cutting down on the number of managed devices he has to take care of.

He says having to remember to take such devices with you everywhere you go can be a constant source of concern or inconvenience – for example, the whereabouts of keys can play on people’s minds and the time spent looking for them over many years can add up significantly.

Graafstra says it’s for this reason that the chips are more use in his hand than in his phone, the phone again being one of those things that is a managed device.

“It is probably the most managed device that you carry,” he adds. “It is the loudest Tamgotchi, aside from all the notifications you get from social media, emails, texts and all that, you also have to worry, is it charged? Does it have signal? Does it have all the things it needs to operate?

“ Being able to have a security token that is with you at all times is pretty convenient“

“So being able to have a security token that is with you at all times, regardless if your phone has power or not, or signal, is pretty convenient and particularly as your phone is not always in your hand – it is in your pocket, it is in whatever.”

This is why, Graafstra argues, having the technology embedded in your body makes a lot more sense.

“Coming home with the groceries in your hand you don’t want to have to fiddle and pull your phone out just to be able to put it up to the door and just do a transaction that way,” he adds. “It is really nice to be able to just use the normal motion of grabbing for the door to scan in and then open the door.”

Implanted NFC

As NFC is becoming more common the technology can be put to more use. NFC tags, printed on to stickers, can be purchased for just a few cents and then encoded to almost any purpose.

It’s this type of flexibility that led ABI Research to predict that 1.95 billion NFC-enabled devices will ship in 2017.

“There’s all these other NFC applications that we don’t even really have to come up with because NFC is standard. Other people are coming up with applications that we would never think of, but the tag works with it because it is NFC,” Graafstra says.

“For example one group of people in the Netherlands is creating Bitcoin kiosks and they’re planning on putting timed wallets to the tags so they can get into the ATM as a secure two-factor token. They’re looking at ways to store the Bitcoins’ value on the actual tag itself.”

The main application that remains is access control and due to the complexities of encryption and different systems already employed, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to use the RFID for pre-existing work access cards or payment methods.

The potential does exist, but it would require mass adoption of implantable tech by large companies.

Growth of the implant

A lot has changed since Graafstra had the first chip implanted almost ten years ago. The technology has moved on, as can be seen from his addition of the NFC chip to work alongside the RFID chip.

But as Graafstra says, it has also become more accessible, which has led to the number of people looking at implanting technology in their body increasing.

“I did the first implants in 2005 and since then the maker revolution has taken hold again.People are building their own solutions again, the electronic hobbyists are coming out of their basements and it is becoming a lot more mainstream now,” he says.

“For just $57 you can buy a glass implant and injection kit”

“A lot more people were looking at RFID because it is accessible to the hobbyist now, and NFC as well. So people were sourcing industrial tags that were meant to be embedded in automotive keys or things like that – which is really not safe to put in the body – and they were putting them in the body in realty bizarre ways and it’s just not safe.”

This adoption of the technology, even on a small scale, inspired Graafstra to sell implantable technology that could be safe to use.

For just $57 you can buy a glass implant and injection kit – the price tag illustrates how cheap the technology and process have already become.

He says he wants to prove by his long-term use that the implants are safe, adding that they are “lab tested” and “commercially sterilised.” He has created partnerships with professional piercers in the US who can perform the procedure, which is said to be no more painful than body piercing.

Not for everyone

Despite the growth of the implanted communications chip technology in recent years, Graafstra insists that those who get them should have a reason for doing so.

So will implanted tech make it into the mainstream?

“I don’t know that those challenges are meant to be overcome,” Graafstra says. “I think that if somebody doesn’t understand why they would implant something in their body then they shouldn’t get an implant.

If somebody understands the technology and understands immediately how they would want to use it, or it is something that they are interested in learning how to use, the option is there.

“ It is really firmly in the scope of people who understand what to do with it“

“But I wouldn’t say that there would be any use to having a campaign or some kind of targeted marketing method to convince people to get an implant. It is really firmly in the scope of people who understand what to do with it and can go build solutions around what is possible.”

This view underlines the early stage the technology is still at. NFC has the potential to be a game changer and implanting it in to our bodies shows how flexible and useful it could potentially be.

As more applications emerge, along with more flexible technology that can be encoded in a variety of ways, then we could well see implantable chips becoming more common.

Featured image and images one, three and four courtesy of Dangerous Things