Getting An RFID Implant
Introduction
I've been getting into RFID research recently and so I decided to get an RFID implant in my body. Being trans and managing my hormones myself means that this isn't technically my first foray into biohacking however this was my first journey into doing it with electronic components.
Implant choice
The implant I chose is the injectable combination Magic Mifare 1a & T5577 from Dangerous Things. The implant contains a traditional "magic mifare" 1k tag along with a T5577 chip for emulating low-frequency rfid cards. I chose this implant because it's relatively forgiving for new folks and allows for both high and low frequency experimentation with a relatively low probability of bricking either chip.
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| The wrapper that contained the implant injector. A label showing the specifics of the tag and size of the injector needle is applied to the package. |
The Kit
I ordered the kit from Dangerous Things and it arrived promptly in the mail. It contained both a pouch designed to remained sealed until ready for implantation and several other items. Unrelated to the implant itself were two field detectors approximately the size of the implant encased within a plastic shell as well as a credit-card sized field detector. These field detectors light up when brought within range of either a high-frequency or low-frequency RFID field and can thus be used to determine the presence or absence of RFID fields. The implant-sized field detectors can be used to determine the alignment of the implant to use in relation to a given field to ensure the best coupling and thus the best read/write performance.
I did notice both some discrepancies between the documentation and what was supplied in the kit along with what I'm going to call some weirdness involving the items included in the kit.
Discrepancies
The documentation [1] specifies that the tags “can be easily installed using a hollow 10G or 11G piercing needle.” However, what was received was a needle 3mm in diameter which falls between an 8G and 10G size piercing needle.
The professional installation guide [2] states that the implant will be packaged with chlorhexidine (CHG) wipes but the package I received included alcohol swabs instead. These two chemicals are not identical and should not be substituted without notice because they apply to two different risk profiles. My piercer did have CHG available to use and offered to use it but I was comfortable proceeding using alcohol alone.
Weirdness
The kit contains a sterile drape rather than a non-sterile drape. There is certainly nothing wrong about including a sterile drape but I found this odd given that there is no real benefit to be gained from a sterile drape placed below the injection site compared to a non-sterile, clean drape.
The professional installation guide [2] makes reference to the “operating field”. The installation video [3] linked to from the installation guide references a “sterile field”. This is simply wrong. We are not establishing a sterile field and the injection of these devices is not a sterile procedure. The devices themselves are sterilized, we are using some sterile supplies, and we are doing a handful things that bear a resemblance to sterile technique but we are not being sterile and we are not using sterile technique. These words have specific definitions that we are not meeting.
The sterile pouch that contains the injector specifies which tag it contains, but not all of the details. I purchased the Magic Mifare 1a & T5577 combination tag but the sterile pouch omits the 1a detail. The packing slip I received with my order indicated that the tag was the “1a” type, but it would make sense to indicate this information on the sterile pouch in order to avoid any potential mixup. Verification of the tag prior to implantation is not possible because the metal needle acts as an RF shield for the tag within. Thus, the tag is only readable after implantation which requires the user to place a high degree of trust in whomever is shipping these orders.
Experience
I started by contacting my piercer a couple weeks in advance. My piercer had never installed one of these devices before but has an enormous amount of experience piercing and performing body modifications over a decades-long career. He’s known very well and highly recommended locally and as taught classes both locally and nationally on piercing. I’ve attended more than one of his classes in order to gain knowledge on safe piercing technique. He was very excited to install one of these devices and I was more than willing to be his first!
I provided him a link to the implant as well as Dangerous Thing's installation guide [2] well in advance for him to review. He performed some additional research online to gather more information and made sure that he felt comfortable with the procedure before proceeding. On the day of, we went through a discussion of the process. This is how most of the discrepancies discussed above were discovered. My piercier made sure that I understood every step of the process in order to ensure that I understood what I was consenting to. The most important parts of this were the skin preparation and the fact that procedure is not sterile even though the implant and injector are sterilized.
With the discussion out of the way, the procedure could begin. My piercer took a fresh skin marker, marked the correct location on my hand, pinched the skin, pushed the needle in, injected the implant, withdrew the needle, and held pressure on the opening with some gauze. I turned my head away and didn't watch any of it, my boyfriend took the picture shown below. The pain was quite intense. Not unbearable by any means, but very intense. I'm used to performing HRT injections using a 22 gauge hypodermic needle and this felt about an order of magnitude worse, which is not surprising given the difference in needle diameter. Immediately I started to feel light headed and my skin got a bit clammy. This lasted about 10 minutes so I made sure to stay seated and sip a bit of water while I recovered. After making sure that the bleeding was completely stopped - which didn't take long at all - I put a band-aid on which remained there for several hours.
Using The Tag
Dangerous Things recommends waiting about 24 hours before attempting to read or write to the tag in order for the swelling to reduce because swelling can made it very difficult for the antenna in any reader to couple with the tag. In my case, I waited about a day before attempting to read and write to the high-frequency portion of the tag. When I did so, I used a proxmark 3 RDV4 in conjunction with a tank circuit made by hamspiced. This seemed to give good performance. I waited for a couple weeks before attempting to write to the low-frequency portion of the tag because T5577 chips notably do not have anti-tear protection and i was far more concerned about potentially causing problems with the tag. I used the "Tom Harkness" biohacker low frequency antenna on my proxmark for this purpose in order to further enhance the probability of success.
Ultimately, the tag is slightly tricky to write to but by no means impossible. It can help to have a friend hold the reader and tank circuit to your hand so that you don't need three hands.
I use the low-frequency portion of the tag to take the place of a badge for convenience at work and I use the high-frequency portion of the tag exclusively for kink. The 1k of memory provided by the mifare tag allows for a tremendous amount of extraordinarily filty, incredibly queer words to be written to a chip under my skin. I love it.
Conclusion
Unfortunately we live in an era of black-and-white thinking where nuance is unwelcome and opinions more complicated than a 140-character “hot take” are likely to provoke a fight so I feel compelled to point out that this is in no way a criticism of Dangerous Things, their implants, or the folks behind the company. The weirdness I’ve indicated above is minor and needs to be taken in the context of what the device is: a body modification product to be installed into an informed and consenting individual by a professional. Minor variations of needle gauge size within technical documentation are not a problem when the professional is explaining the procedure to the end user. Substitution of skin preparation chemicals should not present a problem for a professional who should have those chemicals on-hand anyway. And incorrect terminology shouldn’t cause a serious problem when at the end of the day the instructions result in skin being properly prepared, surfaces being properly cleaned, and the procedure being properly conducted. The issues I’ve identified should be corrected for the sake of completeness. I’ve written this post for the sake of learning, education, and personal development.
References
[1] Introduction to Implantable Transponders for Professionals https://dangerousthings.com/wp-content/uploads/Introduction-to-Implantable-Transponders-for-Professionals.pdf [Accessed Nov 24, 2024]
[2] Professional Guide to X-Series Injectable Product Installation https://forum.dangerousthings.com/uploads/short-url/jGSs2UrYyDxTxaHwVIfb3nWbsd9.pdf
[Accessed Nov 24, 2024]
[3] VivoKey Spark Professional Installation Procedure Guide video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-JH-YO4Lwk [Accessed Nov 24, 2024]
