【時事英文】
Microchip Implants for Employees? One Company Says Yes
美國公司打算在員工體內植入晶片
At first blush, it sounds like the talk of a conspiracy theorist: a company implanting microchips under employees’ skin. But it’s not a conspiracy, and employees are lining up for the opportunity. 乍聽之下，這像是陰謀論者會談論的話題：一家公司在員工的皮膚下植入微 型晶片。但它並不是陰謀，而且員工們還排隊來等待這樣的一個機會。
On Aug. 1, employees at Three Square Market, a technology company in Wisconsin, can choose to have a chip the size of a grain of rice injected between their thumb and index finger. Once that is done, any task involving radio-frequency identification technology — swiping into the office building, paying for food in the cafeteria — can be accomplished with a wave of the hand. 在 8 月 1 日時，威斯康辛州科技公司 Three Square Market 的員工，就可以選擇 在自己的拇指和食指之間植入一枚米粒大小的晶片。一旦完成植入，任何涉及無 線射頻辨識技術的事情—開啟辦公大樓的門禁系統、在員工餐廳支付選購的食 物—都只要揮一揮手就可以完成了。
The program is not mandatory, but as of Monday, more than 50 out of 80 employees at Three Square’s headquarters in River Falls, Wisconsin, had volunteered. 這並非一個強制的計畫，但截至週一時間，該公司位於河瀑市總部的 80名員 工當中，已有超過 50 人自願報名。
The program — a partnership between Three Square Market and Swedish company Biohax International — is believed to be the first of its kind in the United States, but it has already been done at a Swedish company, Epicenter. It raises a variety of questions, both privacy- and health-related. 這項計畫—由Three Square Market和瑞典企業Biohax International合作實施— 被認為會在美國開啟同類項目的先河，不過瑞典公司 Epicenter 已經做過類似的事 情。它帶來了包含個人隱私及身體健康的種種問題。
“Companies often claim that these chips are secure and encrypted,” said Alessandro Acquisti, a professor of information technology and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College. But “encrypted” is “a pretty vague term,” he said, “which could include anything from a truly secure product to something that is easily hackable.” 「企業常常宣稱這些晶片很安全，經過編碼，」卡內基梅隆大學(Carnegie Mellon University)海因茨學院(Heinz College)資訊科技與公共政策教授 Alessandro Acquisti 說。但「經過編碼」是「一個相當模糊的說法」 ，他說， 「所涉範圍甚廣， 既有真正安全的產品，也有很容易被入侵的東西」。
Another potential problem, Acquisti said, is that technology designed for one purpose may later be used for another. A microchip implanted today to allow for easy building access and payments could, in theory, be used later in more invasive ways: to track the length of employees’ bathroom or lunch breaks, for instance, without their consent or even their knowledge. Acquisti 說，另一個潛在的問題是，服務於某一個目的的技術，日後可能會被 用於另一個目的。理論上，今天被植入的讓人們得以更便捷地開啟門禁或付款的 微型晶片，將來也可以有更具侵入性的應用方式：例如，在員工沒有同意，甚至 並不知情的情況下，追蹤其去洗手間或午休所花的時間。
Todd Westby, chief executive of Three Square, emphasized that the chip’s capabilities were limited. “All it is is an RFID chip reader,” he said. “It’s not a GPS tracking device. It’s a passive device and can only give data when data’s requested.” Three Square Market 的 CEO，Todd Westby強調，晶片的功能是有限的。 「它只 不過是射頻辨識閱讀器晶片」 ，他說， 「而非 GPS追蹤設備。它是被動式設備，只 有在收到索取資料要求時才會提供資料」。
Health concerns are more difficult to assess. Implantable radio-frequency transponder systems were approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2004 for medical uses. But in rare cases, according to the FDA, the implantation site may become infected, or the chip may migrate elsewhere in the body. 健康方面的擔憂更加難以評估。2004 年，美國食品與藥物管理局（Food and Drug Administration，簡稱 FDA）批准將可植入式射頻應答系統用於醫療目的。但 來自 FDA的資訊顯示，在極少數情況下，植入位置或許會發生感染，而且晶片還 有可能會遷移到身體的其他部位。
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