Would you mind a microchip?

Nope, If I used the bus, or moves where I’d like to, I’d get a rail pass RFID tag in my hand if I could, it would be so much more convenient. I’d probably make my own security system to so that I could just use a hand to unlock the door automatically.

No. Just no.

That said, I wouldn’t be entirely opposed to having my smartphone function as my wallet, not just for things involving money, but also for ID, medical records (EMTs might like to know a few things about me next time I get into a car accident), etcetera.

I just wouldn’t want it in my body. As handy as it would be, that sort of stuff is stuff about me, not actually me; I am more than my paper trail, and I would like to keep me and my paper trail two distinct entities.

No microchip.

Who is going to verify the information?
How is the information going to be updated, and can it be hacked?
Where would the ‘readers’ be, and who would control them?

How would you prevent the chips being used like the information on the internet, where, legally, interested parties (advertisers) don’t know your actual “identity”, but they can track and target your actions?

Hell no.

@ibstubro Isn’t all of your information already in databases that have the potential to be hacked? The DMV currently updates and verifies your info… How is having it on a microchip really much different than that database? The “readers” would be the same as they are now… At airports, bars, police scanners.

No. That’s what phones are for.

I will decline. Vehemently ! !

I would. My UK passport has a chip in it which contains biometric data. I can’t see the difference between that and a subcutaneous chip. The chip itself only contains a small amount of information – most of the information is held on gov databases which would be accessed by the chip. Either way if someone was going to mess with us (The Handmaid’s Tale anyone?), it’s not the chip that would give them the power but the databases.

Wow- could you imagine if the info on you got screwed up?
No, I’m obviously not dead yet, whadiya mean my chip says null?
I think I’ve been hacked by someone in China..Carryout – egg rolls anyone?
Terrorists would have chips everywhere…
Would your info make you be listed on the petfinder’s info base also?
Target’s data breach started it when I was in their store- I can’t get good reception since.
Well, it’s not really supposed to be a raised tatoo- long story.
If your heart stops, would they have to jolt a teensy weensie chip also?
If an Alien came out of your gut- would it be chipped under junior, or foreign visitors with diplomatic immunity?
Just wondering.

In your list of topics, you include Big Brother, so I assume you are aware of the possibility of the government and possibly other organizations tracking everybody’s movements. It might not be too bad if there was a secure way of turning it on and off, but I don’t know if that is possible.

I would not. I want my information about me to be on my person, not IN my person.

I like that I have the physical evidence of all the information of who I am. If people were to only have the chips, and it were hacked or somehow destroyed, there would be nothing to prove you are you. No thank you.

@Tea_Gryphon So you feel that physically carrying a little plastic card with your picture on it is what proves you are you?

@LostInParadise If you thought your movements were being tracked more with a chip than with your cellphone, cameras everywhere, and satellites… Couldn’t you just remove the chip? I guess I’m too mundane to care if Big Brother wants to track me going to work and back every day. I don’t go anywhere I wouldn’t own up to, and should that change I would just remove my chip… In theory.

@AdventureElephants I’m just saying that if we ONLY had the chips and nothing else we can physically keep on record, I feel that would be disastrous.

@AdventureElephants A carried ID can be checked by anyone with eyes; pretty handy when you don’t have a working RFID reader with a good connection to a trusted database. Also, while it’s relatively easy to make a phone ID, it’s even simpler to tamper with a database; it just takes a different skillset. Thing is, fake or real, a physical ID cannot be altered remotely. That sort of immutability is a security feature.

The most foolproof way to prove identity is a hybrid system of a physical object that only one individual could possibly obtain that is corroborated by a database to prove that it isn’t a forgery. For instance, if I have a tamper-proof photo ID with a picture that looks like me and lists the correct height, weight, and eye color, and checking the number on that license pulls up a database entry with the same information, that’s pretty solid proof as it would take a lot more effort to fool that sort of system than it would to just do a little Photoshop work and hack the database.

Conversely, if there is a mismatch there, that’s not proof-positive that I am not me, only that one of the two is wrong. Since I served in the US military, my fingerprints are on file already, and it’s unlikely that both the DMV’s computer system and the FBI’s paper files would get altered. If push came to shove and the legitimacy of my license is questioned, I have ways of proving my identity through “web of trust” means that don’t involve implanting an RFID in my body.

“If you thought your movements were being tracked more with a chip than with your cellphone, cameras everywhere, and satellites… Couldn’t you just remove the chip?”

That’s precisely why I wouldn’t want an implanted chip. Satellites have limits, cameras can be dealt with, and smartphones can be ditched. Considering that I’m a little squeamish about blood though, removing an implanted chip really doesn’t sound feasible to me. If I were in a position where I was worried about being tracked and did the whole cloak-and-dagger, off-grid paranoia thing, I could drop off the radar despite all the cameras and such. However, it’d be a lot easier if doing so didn’t involve DIY surgery. Given how I know some of the ways RFIDs can be abused (not always by the government; black-hat hackers are very clever and creative), I see implanted chips causing a few problems while offering no real benefit over what we have now.

There, @AdventureElephants.

@jerv does an excellent job of elaborating on “Hell no!”