Man Ditches Keys for RFID Implant

Joe Wooller hates clutter. He's also apparently, incredibly lazy. The 28-year-old Australian father of two decided he was done with hauling his keys around, and underwent a minor surgery in June to implant an RFID chip in his hand. The chip is used to open doors to his home, unlock his car and fire up his motorcycle. Wooller still needs his keys to open the gas tank on the motorcycle and has to punch in a code to disable his home security system, but he says that the RFID chip has made things simpler and more convenient in some respects. He told the Sydney Morning Herald, "You can't lock yourself out now... It's saved me from locking myself outside a couple of times. So that's been good."

Some have suggested that relying on an RFID that can be read and hacked by those with nefarious motives is dangerous. But Wooller points out that, while the tech is out there to steal data from his chip implant, it's unlikely that someone would carry it around with them. Additionally the range of the chip is so small that it would be obvious if someone were attempting to read it. Wooller's chip doesn't require any power and could survive for years inside his hand. We just hope that when the chip finally does stop working, he's got a spare key handy.