Wozniak described the law as "very simple".

The Opal card terms of use state that you must not "misuse, deface, alter, tamper with or deliberately damage or destroy the Opal Card". They also state that all Opal cards are the property of Transport NSW.

Meow-Meow's lawyers asked that no conviction be recorded, but Magistrate Quinn disagreed.

On the charge of travelling without a valid ticket, she recorded a conviction against Meow-Meow and fined him $220. On the charge of failing to produce a ticket for inspection, she ordered that no conviction be recorded.

He was also ordered to pay $1,000 in costs.

Quinn noted that Meow-Meow could not give his ticket or card to the transit officer "because as I understand it you are a bio-hacker and you had a chip that was placed in your hand".



In response to the argument that the technology was ahead of the law, she said, “I’m afraid it is often the case", but concluded anyone travelling on a train "must comply with the legislation as it stands today".

Outside court, Meow-Meow said he respected the decision but had hoped for a different outcome in what he described as a "moral case".

"This was a case where the law hasn't kept up with the technology," he said.

He said recent developments in the Opal system to tap on and off using credit cards and smartphones are not that different to the chip in his hand.

"I hope people sit down, think about where this technology is going, and make smart legislation," he said.



"I feel like this is another one of the times where legislation isn’t written correctly, it ends up punishing people who aren’t really doing the wrong thing."

By the end of the year, he plans to upgrade the chip in his hand to function as a credit card, so he can tap on and off at public transport and pay for other things too.

Several supporters of Meow-Meow were at the court, including a woman who wore an Anonymous mask to the hearing (but not inside the courtroom).

As Meow-Meow spoke to reporters outside, a man walking past called out: "Why would you put that in your arm, bro?" The woman in the Anonymous mask retorted: "You're discriminating against cyborgs."

Meow-Meow also unsuccessfully stood as a candidate in the New England by-election against former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, who was briefly ejected from parliament when it was discovered he was dual New Zealand citizen.