Mark Gasson

Mark Gasson is a British scientist and senior research fellow at the Cybernetic Intelligence Research Group, University of Reading, UK. He pioneered developments in direct interfaces between computer systems and the human nervous system, is active in the research fields of robotics and identity and pursues many public engagement in science activities. In 2010 he claimed to be the first human to be infected with a computer virus following experiments showing the potential vulnerabilities of implantable technology including an RFID device he had implanted a year previously. Some computer scientists commented that the only distinction between Gasson's "infection" and someone carrying a smartphone compromised by malicious software is that Gasson put the electronics in question under his skin. However the focus of Gasson's research is to highlight that with implanted devices you cannot simply separate the human and the technology that easily - many people with implanted medical devices consider them to be a part of their body and so Gasson raises the issues of whether implanted technology should receive the same protection against abuse and interference as the biological body.