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Implantable Digital Wallet Guarantees Entry To Bar
Christians Against Zionism - February 2005
January 17, 2005
Calgary Herald from The Telegraph of Glasgow, Scotland
A Scottish nightclub is about to become the first in Britain to offer its customers the chance to have a microchip implanted in their arm to save them carrying cash. The “digital wallet”, the size of a grain of rice, guarantees entry to the club and allows customers to buy drinks on account.
Brad Stevens, owner of Bar Soba in Glasgow, said most of his customers had responded enthusiastically to the idea.
The VeriChip is inserted by a medical professional and then scanned for its unique ID number as a customer enters the bar. “There are a number of advantages, from instant access to not having to carry money or credit card, to letting bar staff know a customer’s name and favourite drink”, said Stevens. “By the time you walk through the door to the bar, your favourite drink is waiting for you and the bar staff can greet you by name.” However, he said the bar would also have to make sure customers with the chip had a limit on how much they could spend to prevent them drinking beyond their ability to pay.
The scheme was criticized by a spokesman for the Scottish government, who said the microchip could encourage excessive drinking, and by Notags, a consumer group set up to resist the spread of radio frequency identification devices. A spokesman said: “The chip contains your name and ID number and, as this could be read remotely without your knowledge, that is already too much information.”