Magician Forgets Password To His Own Hand After RFID Chip Implant (theregister.com)
- Reference: 0180173991
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/11/22/0120232/magician-forgets-password-to-his-own-hand-after-rfid-chip-implant
- Source link: https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/21/magician_password_hand_rfid/
> "It turns out," said [said magician Zi Teng Wang], "that pressing someone else's phone to my hand repeatedly, trying to figure out where their phone's RFID reader is, really doesn't come off super mysterious and magical and amazing." Then there are the people who don't even have their phone's RFID reader enabled. Using his own phone would, in Zi's words, lack a certain "oomph."
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> Oh well, how about making the chip spit out a Bitcoin address? "That literally never came up either." In the end, Zi rewrote the chip to link to a meme, "and if you ever meet me in person you can scan my chip and see the meme." It was all suitably amusing until the Imgur link Zi was using went down. Not everything on the World Wide Web is forever, and there is no guarantee that a given link will work indefinitely. Indeed, access to Imgur from the United Kingdom was [2]abruptly cut off on September 30 in response to the country's age verification rules.
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> Still, the link not working isn't the end of the world. Zi could just reprogram the chip again, right? Wrong. "When I went to rewrite the chip, I was horrified to realize I forgot the password that I had locked it with." The link eventually started working again, but if and when it stops, Zi's party piece will be a little less entertaining. He said: "Techie friends I've consulted with have determined that it's too dumb and simple to hack, the only way to crack it is to strap on an RFID reader for days to weeks, brute forcing every possible combination." Or perhaps some surgery to remove the offending hardware.
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/21/magician_password_hand_rfid/
[2] https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/09/30/1715206/imgur-pulls-out-of-uk-as-data-watchdog-threatens-fine
password (Score:2)
so where does the keyboard attach? and what does the password protect?
Re: (Score:2)
The keyboard is attached to the computer that runs the software that manages the rfid tag. Could be a virtual keyboard on a smartphone with an NFC reader, for example.
It protects your rfid tag data from being randomly overwritten by parties that don't know the password.
Should have written the password down (Score:2)
He should have written the password down on a yellow Post-It note and stuck it on his ass.
As for placement....right next to his "dumbass" tattoo seems like a good location.
Two (Score:2)
Just implant another one in the other hand. My dog has one. Big sharp needle though.
He is in good company, after all... (Score:2)
...if professional cryptographers [1]lose their password [slashdot.org], he is in good company....
Better to take advantage of the oblig [2]xkcd [xkcd.com] suggestion!
[1] https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/11/22/0041203/cryptographers-cancel-election-results-after-losing-decryption-key
[2] https://xkcd.com/936/
Offending? (Score:2)
I do not think the hardware is the one to blame here!
The Free Internet Problem. (Score:2)
> Not everything on the World Wide Web is forever, and there is no guarantee that a given link will work indefinitely.
Really? Sit down with 100 people under age 30 and ask them what domain name ownership means. You will quickly will see the larger problem with “selling” the “free” internet in exchange for a digital soul. Every time. Actually paying money for shit online used to come with benefits. You know, like owning your own permanent forever space on the internet. Otherwise known as what people have done for decades now.
People won’t even remember how to internet without the Magnifice
Congratulations! (Score:2)
You've won "dumbest idea of the week"!
Re: (Score:3)
This isn't even the dumbest idea of the last 90 seconds. Somewhere out there a guy is getting a tattoo with the name of a girl he met in the last five hours while coked out if his mind. Compared to getting rid of that, extracting an RFID implant will be a minor inconvenience.
Re: (Score:2)
> This isn't even the dumbest idea of the last 90 seconds. Somewhere out there a guy is getting a tattoo with the name of a girl he met in the last five hours while coked out if his mind. Compared to getting rid of that, extracting an RFID implant will be a minor inconvenience.
Its about the cool factor.
Were here mainly talking about the guy with an RFID implant on Slashdot. Makes that dude pretty famous. For at least 15 minutes or so.
If the snow snorter got a tattoo of a virtual girlfriend? Then HE would be the talk of the Slashdot town. Gotta know how to stay relevant with this crowd.