While concerns have been raised over potential personal data violations, many Swedes are favouring convenience over their privacy. Twenty-eight-year-old Ulrika Celsing had a microchip injected into her hand that allows her to enter her workplace without needing her security card. She said she is not concerned over the potential hacking of the data stored in the chip.  To enter her workplace, the media agency Mindshare, Ms Celsing simply waves her hand on a small box and types in a code before the doors open. 'It was fun to try something new and to see what one could use it for to make life easier in the future,' she said.

 

Mircrochip implants are not new in Sweden, and thousands already have them, using the devices to swipe in and out of the office, and even pay for food. Swedish citizens have long accepted the sharing of their personal details. The country has a track record for sharing of personal information, which may have helped ease the microchip's acceptance. Personal details in the Scandinavian state are registered by the social security system, with other administrative bodies.

 

Ben Libberton, a microbiologist at the MAX IV Laboratory in the Swedish city of Lund which provides X-rays for research, told AFP: 'At the moment, the data collected and shared by implants is small, but it's likely that this will increase. 'The more data is stored in a single place as could happen with a chip, the more risk it could be used against us. 'If a chip can one day detect a medical problem, who finds out and when?' He added that the chip implants could cause 'infections or reactions of the immune system'.