An Australian man has lost AU$1220 (NZ$1300) in a court case over his use of a chip in his arm to pay for bus and train services.
Meow-Ludo Disco Gamma Meow-Meow (actual name) removed the NFC chip from his Opal card and encased it in bio-compatible plastic before implanting it in his arm, Australia's ABC reports.
He used it as a bus card, swiping it to pay for transport services on Sydney's public transport services.
Public transport officers weren't impressed with his novel use of technology and he was fined $220 for using public transport without a valid ticket and not producing a ticket to transport officers.
The matter went to court, where Meow-Meow's lawyer argued transport regulation is now advanced enough to include some methods of contactless payment such as MasterCard.
But magistrate Michael Quinn said while legislation may one day catch up with the technology he uses, Meow-Meow needs to follow the laws of the time.
Meow-Meow pleaded guilty to the offences.
He now needs to pay $1000 in court costs, bringing the costs including fines to $1220.
Outside court Meow-Meow said he was disappointed he was forced to pay the legal costs and the offences were not dismissed.
He has every intention of continuing to experiment with implantable technology, including plans to replace the Opal chip with a new one that contains personal information such as credit cards.
Newshub.
