ID Chip

[Vudell]

i did not write this, i got it from my favorite comic strip artist, http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com . but i love the idea and wanted to seee what you all thought. you're a great bunch


My puppy went in for surgery last week to get spayed. When I dropped her off, they asked me if I wanted to get her microchipped as well. I told them she'd been microchipped already when she was a baby. If she ever gets lost, all animal services has to do is pass a scanner over her, and immediately they'll know where she lives, and how to contact me. It got me thinking a little bit... how come we don't microchip humans?

I mean, obviously we have the technology. Aside from the obvious uses, such as identifying lost children and corpses (hopefully not one and the same), they could be used for simple identification. We could do away with licenses alltogether. Want to buy alcohol? Just swipe your wrist under a scanner.

Obviously the majority of the people who would object (unless there's something I'm not thinking of) would be the people who have something to hide. Criminals, illegal immigrants, or kids who want to use fake ID's. Which begs the question: do we really care about what these people want anyway? I certainly don't. In fact, I'm all for making it harder for criminals to hide.

Now, I'm not saying we should go as far as being tracked via satellite from space or anything. No cameras in our home or having our emails read. I'm talking strictly about identification, which we all have to carry anyway. But we have to carry lots of it. Our license, our medical insurance cards, our social security card, emergency contact, etc. How many times have you gone out and forgotten your license? It's happened to me a few times.

What if you were in a car accident alone, knocked unconscious and none of your identification carries some important information, like your blood type or medical allergies? What if the EMT could scan your microchip and have that information immediately, along with family members to call and notify?

You could be chipped at a young age, and when you pass your driver's test, they just update the information in the database to reflect that you are legal to drive. And again, when you turn eighteen, or twenty one, the chip will reflect that.

What about if you had to swipe your chip when buying age restricted materials, and your random chip number was attached to the purchase somehow. So when a mother goes and buys her son a bloody, violent M-rated game, and then turns around and starts bitching that the game is violent, we can go to the record and say "Hey moron, YOU bought it for him. Wake up, you stupid shit."

Like I said, unless you're trying to hide something (and there are no legitimate, legal reasons to carry a fake ID), identification is something we all already deal with. So why not make it easier and more efficient?

It's just something I was thinking about.

[jwdd27]

If you have nothing to hide, life is NO FUN.
Get out and live a little, Vudell.

And that's apart from the logistical/bueracratic fuckin' nightmare it would be. What about tourists, or does everyone in the world have to have one?

As technology moves on, does everyone have to have a new chip implanted? Imagine the capabilities of a chip implanted 15 years ago to one now, and one in 20 years' time.

The technology would have to be 100% infallible - what happens if their scanner doesn't recognise you? Is there a 13 digit number tattooed on your wrist?

HUAR!

Apart from that, it's a good idea.

[Vudell]

Originally Posted by jwdd27

Get out and live a little, Vudell.

pssssst! i didnt write it.

[be leaves]

how much information would be too much information.. how do you regulate the power of the scanners... and who has the right to own a scanner..

ultimately, it's a potential mass-invasion of privacy.
blood type and medical allergies might work.. but other than that i dunno...

and as a side note, i don't like the way this guy generalizes all 'criminals.' there are plenty of unjust laws in this country (and many other countries) that have made criminals out of fine, upstanding citizens.

[rellek]

I'm against big brother.

[jwdd27]

Originally Posted by Vudell

pssssst! i didnt write it.

But you said you loved the idea.

[Vudell]

Originally Posted by jwdd27

But you said you loved the idea.

i do, i was refering to him saying i needed to get a life. which may or may not be true, but i inferred he was taking that from part of the article.

[DaveNJ]

Terrible idea. Big brother can suck it. HUAR!

[jwdd27]

Originally Posted by Vudell

i do, i was refering to him saying i needed to get a life. which may or may not be true, but i inferred he was taking that from part of the article.

Well done on becoming a senior member.

Him? Same person, me.

You said you loved the idea, which I assumed meant you agreed with the article, which was full of phrases like "no-one with nothing to hide should be against this".
My point was, EVERYONE should have something to hide, which is getting harder and harder in the UK, because CCTV surveillance is fuckin' everywhere.

[Vudell]

d'awww thanks.
i need to start paying more attention. but yea, i just think the system we have now has unnecessary flaws and we gotta think of a new way to handle these things. this cant be the only answer, but i havent seen any good ideas. i like that people are thinking.