The QR code (quick response matrix bar code for storing information) is being seen more and more ranging from shop windows to National Trust woodland. Everywhere you go, if you have a portable scanner (found on most smart phones for example), you can pick up information about anything the QR code owner wants you to see, in the same way that a checkout at a supermarket can pick up product information when scanned through.
Already, Japanese immigration is using encrypted QR codes when placing visas in passports, companies are using them for commercial tracking, entertainment and transport ticketing, and product marketing.
Setting up your own personalised QR code is easy; one visit to a QR code generating website, and within a few clicks, you have a downloadable file (such as a JPEG) that can be used anywhere from your own website, Facebook profile, or even CV, where you can advise whoever wants to know more about you, a few extra details.
Barcode technology has been around since the 1970′s where scanning a pattern in exchange for information has become commonplace in the retail industry. QR codes were first seen in the early 1990′s. Biometric passports have been around since around 2006 and microchips are used to store biometric patterns of the face, hand (for finger printing) and eyes. As recent as a few years ago, human micro chipping has been researched and tested although there are many medical, technical, sociological and ethical concerns that has prevented the availability of this type of technology.
We are always looking for ways of presenting data quickly, easily and securely. Imagine the future of a secure QR code embedded into a microchip embedded into the human body? No more carrying (or fear of losing) passports, identity cards or even credit and debit cards! Imagine ‘short-cutting’ the way to presenting yourself – your career history in one chip instead of two or three A4 pages, your Facebook timeline stored as a kind of ‘this is your life’ to look back wistfully or with joy.
Then there are the risks; distant scanning of microchips is already possible with biometric passports. People can silently steal your information without you knowing, using the right technology. Imagine if they could also steal your money and identity just by standing near you in a queue. Imagine all your data that enables you to live and easily move around, wiped by being near MRI machines. Current research suggests that microchips embedded and tested in mice causes cancer.
Technology is moving forward at a rapid rate, but it may be a while before the accessibility of personal data becomes easy and convenient as well as safe and secure.
Photo of Amal Graafstra, a Washington state native and business owner, having a Radio Frequency identification (RFID) chip implanted in his left hand in early 2005.
Photo from http://flickr.com/photos/28129213@N00/7267161/in/set-181299/
This photo was taken just after the operation to insert the RFID tag was completed.
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