8 Ways to Sunday

According to New Scientist, VIP members of Barcelona’s Baja Beach Club can now opt to get an RFID transmitter implanted in their arms for €125 (plus the €25 VIP membership fee). The transmitters — about the size of a grain of rice — emit a faint radio signal that can be detected by scanners at the door, allowing chipped members to skip the wait in line. They can also be associated with the member’s bank account to act as a debit card at the bar, eliminating the need to carry your wallet with you to the club.

This is a colossally bad idea. It poses a grave privacy concern, exposing your unique identifier to anyone who can pick up a radio signal. I imagine high-tech identity thieves prowling the club with RFID receivers disguised as cell phones or pagers, culling ID info from hapless VIPs. There’s also the issue of implanting a piece of foreign matter into your upper arm, possibly resulting in scar tissue formation and a permanent scar. Given the issues involved, I can’t imagine much of an adoption rate among clubbers for this high-tech gimmick. The article says that traditional membership cards are still an option, so why bother. Then again, Europeans are not as fanatical about privacy as Americans.

This seems like a very poor trade-off for a very small benefit. Then again, Wasabi — who pointed me toward this story — doesn’t think Baja Beach Club is all that hot anyway. Why not just go someplace else, away from the prying eyes of Big Brother Bouncer?