Employees In Swedish Office Complex Volunteer For RFID Implants For Access 168
Lucas123 writes A Swedish office building is enabling corporate tenants to implant RFID chips into employee's hands in order to gain access through security doors and use services such as photocopiers. The employees working at Epicenter, a 15,000-square-foot building in Stockholm, can even pay for lunch with a swipe of their hand. Hannes Sjöblad, founder of Bionyfiken, a Swedish association of Biohackers, said Epicenter is not alone in a movement to experiment with uses for implanted chips that use RFID/NFC technology. There are also several other offices, companies, gyms and education institutions in Stockholm where people access the facilities with implanted chips. Bionyfiken just began a nationwide study using volunteers implanted with RFID/NFC. "It's a small, but indeed fast-growing, fraction which has chosen to try it out." The goal of the Bionyfiken project is to create a user community of at least 100 people with RFID implants who experiment with and help develop possible uses. But, not everyone is convinced it's a good idea.
John Kindervag, a principal security and privacy analyst at Forrester Research, said RFID/NFC chip implants are simply "scary" and pose a major threat to privacy and security. The fact that the NFC can't be shielded like a fob or chip in a credit card can with a sleeve means it can be activated without the user's knowledge, and information can be accessed. "I think it's pretty scary that people would want to do that [implant chips]," Kindervag said.
John Kindervag, a principal security and privacy analyst at Forrester Research, said RFID/NFC chip implants are simply "scary" and pose a major threat to privacy and security. The fact that the NFC can't be shielded like a fob or chip in a credit card can with a sleeve means it can be activated without the user's knowledge, and information can be accessed. "I think it's pretty scary that people would want to do that [implant chips]," Kindervag said.
You could just... (Score:2, Insightful)
...tattoo everybody with a bar-code...
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... on their foreheads or on the back of their right hands.
Re:You could just... (Score:5, Funny)
I'd like to have the chip implanted in my dick. I have a tiny little mind, and am easily amused by puerile shenanigans . . . so whipping out my dick and waving it around to open doors and pay for stuff . . . priceless!
MasterCard, Visa and American Express, please take note of this post! This is the "Innovative Cloud of Internet of Things," that everyone is talking about!
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but when it would count your average number of thrusts... might be embarrassing data if leaked.
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This is the "Innovative Cloud of Internet of Things," that everyone is talking about!
Doctor: "Sorry, Mr. PolygamousRanchKid, but your urine is a bit cloudy; I'd like to run a couple more tests..."
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Until all the female staff start pointing and laughing at you... :P :P :P
"Look! He's got a teeny tiny magic wand! *BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA*"
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I cannot believe that nobody here got this. Revelation 13:16. And I don't consider myself religious. Too bad I don't have mod points right now. well done sir.
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I cannot believe that nobody here got this. Revelation 13:16. And I don't consider myself religious. Too bad I don't have mod points right now. well done sir.
I got it but no mods points to spend today. always have mods when there is nothing worth modding but never when there is
Or a number, like what the Nazi did (Score:2, Insightful)
Yep, like what the ranchers often do to their calf - branding
I mean, what's next?
Every new born has to be 'chipped', like kittens / puppies?
What NSA/GCHQ did was bad enough and this is much worse !
We might as well chuck that UN Charter of Human Rights out of the window, since human themselves are willing to be branded
Willful vs. Forced (Score:2)
This is not the first mass publication of people willingly getting themselves chipped. If enough people start to believe the media (safer, and easier, really! *wink*) then there is no need to force anyone to get chipped.
Here, there are numerous negative comments surrounding the subject. See any of this same negative feedback in the "news"? I have not, yet I have seen people paraded in front of the camera with ID tattoos, and remember a Florida family being portrayed as very happy and "safe" after they we
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How long until mandatory? (Score:4, Informative)
Look, if you want to be that stupid, as long as it only affects you, go right ahead. But don't bother anyone else with it, thanks. Yet there's the rub: Before you know it, it's become de rigeur and everyone is expected to follow, something I'll never do voluntarily. So force it is going to be. I object to that.
Re:How long until mandatory? (Score:5, Insightful)
Your objection has been noted, and will be ignored when the time comes. You're strongly advised to think your position over, to rationally analyze your fears and to understand that change is inevitable so you might as well embrace it. The consequences of some misgiven "rebellion" would be... Unpleasant to you and your family.
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Insecure? (Score:5, Interesting)
Isn't it like extremely easy to copy passive NFC/RFID tags? You just record them and replay them.
So in essence this adds nothing to security and only harms privacy. (But I guess that is pretty much the norm everywhere these days.)
Well, at least it might be a bit convenient since the people doesn't need to remember their keys.
Not that it should be an issue, they would probably rather be caught dead than forgetting their smartphone somewhere.
Re: Insecure? (Score:5, Insightful)
Even when you can't just replay them you're often able to relay them.
Shake hands with a person in one place and in another your partner is able to authenticate as being them.
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Not if it's implemented with public/private key encryption to generate an encrypted challenge/response communication.. i.e. A private key is stored in the RFID tag, along with the public keys for any scanners it's supposed to respond to. When a scanner queries it, it sends an initial "who are you?". The RFID tag responds with its ID. The scanner then looks up the ID in its list of public keys. It then crea
Insecure? (Score:2)
Doesn't seem actually quite that easy though in practice. Some RFID tags employ a challenge/response mechanism.
If someone does have such a solution available, though, I'm interested! A colleague tried to reuse the tags at work for some other purposes by writing a custom reader for them, but I think he gave up due to those issues.
Comment (Score:5, Insightful)
The NSA declined to comment although a muffled "W0000000t!!!!" could be heard in the background.
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Short range RFID devices with encryption aren't nearly as useful for the NSA as mobile phones that can be tracked from a mile away.
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A table will run out of entries. It's better to use something that can be dynamically generated. For instance, you can generate a random string, ask the RFID device to encrypt it with its private key, and then you can verify it with a public key. That way, all you need is a table that links public keys to employees/customers.
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They would use induction. I'm not sure that the technology is advanced enough that we can power public key encryption from induction in a small implantable device, but that's probably just a matter of time. There are already passive RFID cards that can do AES, which would be good enough for employees at the office buying a sandwich.
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There's also glucose-powered... fuel cells? Some sort of small system recently developed that can run off blood sugar, for the specific purpose of powering low-power implantable technology.
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They get the energy and the clock signal from the 'receiver'. So they don't even need a crystal. But as long as they have those two available, they can perform any kind of computations. As longer computations need more clock pulses, it could be that advanced crypto algorithms could increase the time-to-validate annoyingly.
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Not very useful to the NSA, certainly, but a gold mine for Europe's approximately eight billion pickpockets.
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Except I seem to recall that some folks have made highly directional scanners that can read chips from blocks away. Still not as convenient as a cell phone, but cell phones can be left behind if you're doing something the overseers might not approve of. Seems like an implanted RFID would be a wonderful complement in a surveillance state, especially if it was eventually made illegal to mask the signal. Automated system: "Non-chipped humanoid identified at location 1234:5432, intercept and apprehend"
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About the same time they rolled over for the islamist colonists.
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scandinavians tend to have high confidence in their government institutions. for a reason. but yes, this pushes it a bit too far.
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Eftersom fisk och potatis bör räcka för alla, naturligtvis. ;P
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That would explain perfectly why Stockholm has more Thai restaurants than any other city on the planet, aside from Bangkok.
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August 13th 1954?
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i have trouble grasping how having something implanted into your body qualifies as "comfort". even more so removing it, should you ever have/want to. i also fail to see how this should be a requirement for security. so your definition of comfort here seems to come down to "not having to carry an id". you know ... i think you are not so smart as you think you are, and i'm ok with people like you getting themselves branded. go on.
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it's food group vs environment. chicken salad performs lousy in data centers but is all the rage in the software engineering department. never been to a sprint planning meeting?
Is it really that bad for privacy? (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm no RFID expert, but it's just used for identification, right? It won't be long until face scanning is good enough that you can identify someone from even further away than the range of an RFID chip. The potential for people cloning the chips seems worse than any sort of privacy/tracking worries.
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I'm no RFID expert, but it's just used for identification, right?
Contactless payments are another useful application.
Re:Is it really that bad for privacy? (Score:5, Interesting)
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Who says it can't be removed? If it's just under the skin it is a *very* minor procedure to put in and remove. We do the same thing all of the time for implanted contraception (Implanon [implanon-usa.com]). You don't want to do this every month but for a semi permanent sort of thing it's trivial.
It's not just about privacy (Score:2, Interesting)
The privacy part is important, but not the only part. It's a bit like biometrics, that aren't replacable and aren't quite private. Of course, you can zap the tag and implant a new one, and keep doing that until your arm rattles. But that doesn't make it a good idea. Personally I already object to tagging pets, because of this, and because of the wireless part. I'd acquiesce to tattooing a number in the ear so that a vet can look up ownership, but that's as far as I'm willing to go. Nobody needs to check own
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Come on, it's being used at work cafeterias and at the gym. It's not the end of the world if someone clones it.
Would we of had them implanted if small enough? (Score:2)
I used to "wear" a RFID chip, it was claimed more to account for for personal in case of an accident, thinking about it now not many would of passed through the portal if an accident took place.
Would we of had them implanted if small enough? For the job and pay I think it would of been accepted at that time. Security was all important with different levels, I had to use a hand geometry scanner to reach my work place.
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"We've". Or "we have". NOT "we of".
This type of illiteracy is relatively new (to me). I've seen it a lot in the last few months, never before that. Is this something they're teaching in schools now?
gud skool (Score:2)
Because we can no longer correct people in schools for grammar. It's the motive in writing that gets graded today, not the ability to communicate. Government mandates, you are welcome.
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to have
have had
would have had
You're welcome.
Put your finger in a glass of water, remove it and notice the impression you've left;
the same one I've left with.
Christian fundamentalists will smile knowingly (Score:5, Interesting)
[The Beast] also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. (Rev 13:16,17)
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If you want to argue against GP's statement at least make it rational. I study a hell of a lot of history and have found many currencies have been called "tools of Lucifer/Satan" and even sinful, but not a "mark of the beast". The "tool" statement usually relates to money being used as a control mechanism, because it's not an individual mark that was required for a person to buy/sell or even receive currency. The 'sin' arguments usually relate to how people put more faith into money than religion, covet
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So can you explain how an RFID chip is "...the name of the beast or the number of its name."?
Each RFID chip would be unique to identify the buyer and seller. Which means they'd all be different. And unless the beast has one name per person, the RFID cannot be the name of the beast. And not the mark of the beast.
QED.
Thanks for playing. I love how people who insist on a "literal interpretation" allow their mind to wander. If you believe that revelation is fact, and will come to pass, you should look for
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I'm not claiming it's rational to do so, but will tell you it's easy for people to make this claim. It is easy because depending on what a person looks for anything (or close) can be called three sixes. III (in writing it looks more like a 1) in ancient Hebrew was pronounced "V", so people will claim that VVV = 666. If they take VW or WV we can claim it's 3 Vs or 666. Similarly 111 and III can be claimed to be 666 also. I have read all kinds of these, and in fact there is a Wiki [wikipedia.org] page and countless othe
Re: fundamentalists will smile knowingly (Score:2)
I used to think the author(s) of Revelations were unbelievably prescient and ahead of their time in predicting the ascendence of bar codes, RFID tags, etc. to identify and to number people.
Now with facial recognition, and with DNA readers in the future, who needs to "mark" people?
New and improved... (Score:1)
who in their right mind would willingly submit? (Score:3)
So many things wrong with the very IDEA of this.
An implant is as permanent and as symbolic as a fucking TATTOO. Remember the last people to use tattoos to identify individuals? Read some books and see how that shit turned out for six million people.
Re: who in their right mind would willingly submit (Score:2, Insightful)
Yes, except⦠that they're easily removed and not visible. But besides that they're totally like tattoos.
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fuck off #49004625, when you've got one of these things in your arm you'll not be an AC any more - all your personal data will be displayed in plain text for all who are willing to pay for the directory CD. From insurance underwriters to cialis merchants to internal revenue service to security services to the health service, they will each own a piece of you.
Mark my words, and mark these words as well:
"Arbeit Macht Frei".
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Just walking around with a phone, or a face, is already enough to lose your AC status.
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If you carry around your phone 24/7 then you are a really sad person in my opinion. Life away from the constant Twitter and Facebook feeds is really quite nice. That said, I have no qualms either moving or asking people to stop taking pictures if they happen to continue after I move. You are kind of right that people are tracked more often than they may think. At the same time, many of us are not tracked as often as you seem to think.
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We still use CDs. They are compatible with more systems than USB sticks or memory cards.
plus hey aren't nearly as much of a security hazard ...
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Things in WW2 had already turned shitty. The tattoos came later.
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Things in WW2 had already turned shitty. The tattoos came later.
Yeah, things have already turned shitty. Now the RFIDs have come later.
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You missed the point, which is that it didn't start with tattoos.
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This is patently ridiculous! (Score:2)
This is patently ridiculous!
In the RFID chip, we write the numbers much, much smaller than the WW2 tattoos!
People would love it. (Score:3)
"...NFC can't be shielded like a fob or chip in a credit card can with a sleeve means it can be activated without the user's knowledge, and information can be accessed."
And how many people currently shield their smartphones from bluetooth, NFC, WiFi, IR, radio, or GPS? (you know, that technology we use to track things) Obviously the majority of post-Snowden society today has no problem carrying around devices capable of tracking them.
Activated without the users knowledge? Well, only if they didn't take the time to read every page the 37 EULAs they've accepted, along with the other 27 auto-accepted when they activated their new smartphone. I'm certain data is being slurped with every GPS refresh and radio pulse. And it was agreed to by the owner.
Society is so accepting to this that a kids game theme (follow the leader, tag-you're-it) could be tied to the marketing and people would buy it.
Doubly so if Apple did it.
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It seems to be a fairly well established principle that "without the user's knowledge" means "without the user's knowledge", not "if they user had tried harder, they could have found out."
None of Snowden's revelations seemed new to people who cared about privacy already. (Maybe I missed something?) But most people didn't care til they were spoonfed it.
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I hardly ever take my phone with me.
Not sure how paying monthly for a portable device and wireless service that hardly ever leaves your house is feeding common sense or logic here. Sorry. Either own one, or don't.
lanyard, motherfuckers, just wear a lanyard (Score:3)
This has roughly zero advantage over clipping your ID card (with RFID) to a lanyard you wear at work. I'll leave it to my fellow Slashdotters to list all the disadvantages. So this is just plain stupid and pointless, along with all of the other adjectives others will post.
I know the new "progressive" thing is that we're all interchangeable cells of out defined group, you're "a black" or "a white" or "the rich" or "the poor", but for myself I like a little personal privacy and individual dignity.
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An obvious advantage is that you can't forget to bring it.
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If I forget my wallet, I'm not going to be able to board the train to the city since my transport pass also lives in it.
touch it to the door on the way out (3rd grade) (Score:2)
If you're the forgetful type, whatever is critical that you must bring to work, touch it to the door of your house as you leave. It quickly becomes habit - close door, touch badge, lock door, open car. After doing that for ten days straight, it'll become rather difficult to forget.
This method can be taught to 3rd graders.
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I've said in the past that I would volunteer to get the chip if it were ever available, but that was easy talk when I knew that it was not. Now that I could actually do this, I have to admit I would think about it carefully. A lot of potential to go w
interesting experiment (Score:2)
Since "there are plenty if times", it might be an interesting experiment to touch your work keyfob to the door of your house as you leave each day. Once the habit is engrained, you may never leave the house without your fob again.
"volunteer" (Score:2, Interesting)
The employment climate in Sweden if very far from the socialist dream of the 1970's. Today it is very easy to get kicked out on your ass in Sweden. You don't want the implant? Well then you cant do your job, audios! We had a guy fire for saying he liked big breasts and another because he wanted he stipulated vacation during summer (which is his right by law). Sweden has somehow transformed from a democracy with a good employment climate to a dictatorship (we basically have a one party since the "December ag
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You don't want the implant? Well then you cant do your job, audios!
does this also include videos, as well? we now live in a multi-media world, you know...
Umm ... okay ... while it's all voluntary ... (Score:2)
... though you have to wonder who would voluntarily do something like that. It's easy to see who want to do it _to_ someone though.
The implants are used on herd animals in farming and pets. Is that what those people feel they are?
Regardless of how minor the surgery (Score:2)
Regardless of how minor the surgery may be, I would *never* consent to surgery just to get a job. Never mind to implant a tracking device that remains active outside the workplace.
The employment rates over there must really suck if people are "volunteering" for this.
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Note: I never carried a cell phone for similar reasons. If you want to be able to contact me 24/7, then pay me 24/7.
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Oblig Dilbert [dilbert.com]
I was thinking the other day (Score:2)
Security? (Score:2)
A small permanently implanted device wirelessly broadcasting (Yes I know passively) its unchangeable code? Isn't that completely the opposite of "security"? I think a lot of people in the corporate culture mistake "security" with "convenience" and assume everyone else on planet earth is as inept as them when it comes to technology.
Mark of the Beast (Score:2)
I work there (Score:2)
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Microcode.
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Three letters for you: MRI (Score:2)
Try getting an MRI with an implant. The last one I had on my head and neck for my acoustic neuroma, the technician told me to remove my wedding ring because it might vibrate. Right on the form it asks "do you have an implant?"
damnit... (Score:2)
... now I have to microwave my arm?
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Human rights violating,
What specific human right does it violate? Please give references as "because it is" is not proof or even evidence.
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Try and imagine what it would be like if every single moment of every single day were recorded by numerous devices you so much as got within close proximity too, now think of what could happen if one person with one axe to grind wanted to falsely accuse or implicate you in something, and knew of a security vulnerability on the device. You would have no defense against self-incrimination.
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The more numerous these devices are, the harder it will be to falsely accuse someone.
You would have no defense against self-incrimination.
"Your honor, these RFID transaction records show that my client was buying a cup of coffee 39 miles away from the crime scene at the time of the murder"
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The more numerous these devices are, the harder it will be to falsely accuse someone.
Uh no. They are trivial to clone.
"Your honor, these RFID transaction records show that my client was buying a cup of coffee 39 miles away from the crime scene at the time of the murder"
They show nothing of the sort, since they are easily copied.
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You have not answered my question. I must therefore conclude that there is no specific right that is being violated.
every single moment of every single day were recorded by numerous devices
A lot of things can be imagined. What is important is what is probably going to happen. That would only happen if one was within range of an RFID reader every minute of every day. Sorry but that is not going to happen any time soon.
You would have no defense against self-incrimination.
If you are talking about the Fifth Amendment [wikipedia.org], it does not apply. The privilege is defined as follows.
The privilege against compelled self-incrimination is defined as "the constitutional right of a person to refuse to answer questions or otherwise give testimony against himself or herself. ... "
Leaving evidence of one's presence is not "answer questions or
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Have you ever heard of the word Camera? how about security camera?
every single day you are recorded by numerous devices that you got within close proximity too.
I wouldn't get an RFID chip that isn't replaceable, or at least changeable. Also I am waiting for complex Public key one time transmissions from said chips, instead of static data. Biometrics is a bad security because you can never change it. That is the trick. The key you are using needs to be changeable. It doesn't have to be easy to change,
Re:This is stupid (Score:5, Funny)
Our company uses a chip in our employee IDs. I get into our Stockholm office by turning around and banging the scanner with my ass--it's just the right height to read the card in my wallet just fine that way. The fact that the corporate logo is pasted across the front of the card scanner just makes it all the more heartwarming.
We use a separate fob for the outside door (we share the building with several other firms). That works just fine, too, and people seldom if ever come to the office without their house and/or car keys.
Re:This is stupid (Score:5, Funny)
I get into our Stockholm office by turning around and banging the scanner with my ass
TWERK TO ENTER WORK
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The office is on Södermalm, a.k.a. The Isle That Means Style. So of course, I must attempt to be trendy, and this is much more fun than trying to integrate React.js into my workflow.
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Posted by our SRM correspondent in Kärrtorp [wikipedia.org], no doubt.
Bagarmossen hälsar dig och bjuder dig knullas, fårskalle.
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Easy on the bath salts there.
Watch for the black helicopters.
Gracefully surrender [dmdb.org] the things of youth: birds, clean air, tuna, Taiwan.