But the wholesome Midwestern reputation the company
presents and its assurances about what the chip does not do
become less convincing when the true source of its business
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its website, Three Square Market makes its money from
marking up products considerably to take advantage of the
incarcerated and their families. Its related company,
TurnKey Corrections, manages a multistate technology
operation that provides services such as video visitation,
which replaces in-person visits for families and other visitors
and charges them exorbitant fees to chat via video terminal.
Implanting a chip that comes from a company that’s deeply
embedded in the prison-industrial complex could lead to
surveillance that goes far beyond the scope of the
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Microchipping employees isn’t limited to the United States.
The UK’s BioTeq and Sweden’s Biohax have been implanting
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industries. BioTeq bills itself as “the UK’s leading human
technology implant specialists” and supplies both RFID and
NFC microchips. The company’s site lists features for the
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and under a section called “Bespoke Solutions,” tracking
systems. And Biohax is in use at companies in the UK and
Europe as well as the United States—it’s the chip behind
Three Square Market’s initiative. It’s even been adopted by
Swedes in their private lives
OFFICE GOSSIP
Because it’s embedded under your skin, a microchip is an
unobtrusive and easily forgotten monitor. In those aspects,
it’s not alone. Ambient monitors that use Apple’s Siri and
Amazon’s Alexa listen in on employees like an invisible,
intrusive coworker. You won’t necessarily see them around
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Siri now works
with Salesforce
to remind
employees
about meetings
and quotas
while
monitoring
their speech.