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Editorial – May 2021: An identity chip implant would restore civil rights and personal identity.

Hello everyone

Every home should have a triffid.

Y’know, I would have thought I might have got some response to last month’s editorial about people having an identity chip implant. Mind you, I took a different tack than saying it removes civil liberties. On reflection, I think it restores one important civil liberty, your own identity and proof of who you are.

Seeing how versions of a covid passport are getting frowned upon as creating a tier system in the UK, one has to wonder on the levels of infringement. I have greater concerns for a paper passport simply on the grounds of how quickly it can be faked, let alone be updated. At least with a permanent data ID chip, you have agreed and proof of identity that can be identified to a computer mainframe database and if you don’t match, then you have identity theft that is easily proven. Like with pet ID chips, you need to be up and close for it to be scanned. A civil scanner can only be used to verify certain information like being covid inoculated. A police scanner would be more for proof of identity and the scan being recorded and by who.

Considering how it is possible to track people’s movements by active mobile phones for many years now, anything related to civil liberties has already been eroded. Unless you don’t carry a mobile phone. Hmmm…does that mean I can’t be tracked because I don’t use one?

These days, the covid-19 virus is the hidden spy. Unless you’re showing symptoms, you don’t know who’s got it or inadvertently going to pass it to you. Of course, with the full twin inoculations, your odds of getting it are far reduced and you’re less likely to die. Even so, there are still a lot of people who are finding all kinds of reasons not to be inoculated and with at least now there are at least seven variants and more to come, there’s still no telling that anyone is likely to be free of infection for long. We have enough problems with the infection, let alone people masquerading as having been inoculated.

Having proof of your own identity is a protection of your civil liberty because it prevents other people stealing your identity. It makes you responsible and the only time there is a reveal is when you need verification and the levels needed. A lower level would just prove you have certain medical clearance. Police proof would probably be the highest and give more information to see the full version on the computer mainframe database in each country. Any movement between countries and a copy passed to the next country’s database.

It all comes down to proven identity and carrying an ID chip that can only be checked by a scanner that can look up simple data that you would give information you would give anyway is less of an infringement. When medical information is on the database, passing your personal ID chip over it, say entering a pub, sporting venue or concert, won’t give any information, just confirmation by a light saying you’re OK. Bear in mind, said ID chip would be smaller than the tip of your fingernail. The same kind as used in the ID chip used in your pet. The technology is already there. No re-inventing the wheel involved here.

The only problem comes when you’re not containing an ID chip and its up to the owners whether they deem you a risk to themselves or others. The sensible way to divide people by that decision than mix up and might have entrances set up that way. The dividing line is whether you have or don’t have a chip implant.

The establishment of identity in a world like our own which is already firmly reliant on identity just makes it easier. From a criminal point of view, it automatically sorts out fake IDs on the spot. The verification aspect would reveal something from the start. Even if you took someone’s chip out, a simple heat sensor on the chip would show a change in temperature and putting it into a new host would register a change and far too complicated to make it practical. Someone with two ID chips in them would definitely stand out. Passing the id chip in a scan and the identification shows it isn’t you is a sure way to catch the fakes out there.

For other things, your own personal ID chip means you can quickly verify yourself to a bank, password access to your computer and on-line (although that might allow another option to the three we already have). I did have a think on this. Does that mean you would have to add new technology to computers? With laptops, probably not. The camera already incorporated above the screen could do a simple scan. People add cameras to the desktop computers all the time so would be a simple addition. An ID chip would actually give you back your civil liberties not take them away. It proves you are who you say you are and if employed across the Internet also means you can’t hide when it comes to hate-mail as you only have one identity.

The only weak area is the computer database itself and how hackable it is. A lot of computer databases are already mostly autonomous already and not having them all in one place means cross-reference verification ensuring one can’t get at all of them. A failure in one would be highlighted in the others. We wouldn’t be ruled by the computers but we would know when fake ID is attempted to be carried out. Having several computer databases carrying your ID means it might be possible to hack one but not all and red light any attempts to do so gives its own protection.

I’m simply exploring the possibilities here. Giving everyone access to a scanner verification means everyone would be able to surface check who everyone else is. It would develop trust and certainly care when they don’t match who they say they are. It certainly wouldn’t access your address. Think how it would be applied to protection on-line.

There are bound to be some people who have a problem with an ID chip, even for legitimate reasons like amputees although there might be some freedom of choice where the chip is implanted. Witness protection might have its own problems but implementing a new name would only be done by court order and verification from the top. There would essentially be only one person with and an ID number and details Your number would be yours, just the name with it changed but that would be altered by marriage and other means anyway.

Part of civil liberties is protection of your own identity. Well, that hasn’t been too brilliant until now. Any improvement has to be for the better.

Stinger is optional.

Thank you, take care, good night and welcome to another Science Fiction trope becoming possible reality.

 

Geoff Willmetts

editor: www.SFCrowsnest.info

 

A Zen thought: To be is to be only me. There can be no one but me.

 

What Qualities Does A Geek Have: Well, look at the above proposal. Only a geek would offer a strong suggestion as above.

 

The Reveal: If you have to get used to MS Edge as your Internet Explorer and frustrated as I am that the standard commands for copy and paste literally closes down the pages then pay heed and let your finger memory get used to these keys:-

‘Ctr’ and ‘C’ = Copy

‘Ctr’ and ‘V’ = Paste

  At least the original Internet Explorer was easier to use and allowed to have a decent choice of menu. Improvements need to be done to make things better NOT worse.

 

Observation: Something that has always puzzled me with the 1970s series ‘UFO’ is just when do the Skydiver crew sleep and do they do it in shifts and when the submarine tilts to launch Sky One, how do they stay in their bunk beds? Mind you, the same must apply to all belongings or otherwise there must be a massive tidy-up after each launch.

 

Observation: If you look at some of the design elements of the Betty from ‘Alien Resurrection’ then you’ll spot some similarities to the Prometheus from its own self-named film. What comes around goes around, more so as its supposed to be older than the Nostromo.

 

Observation: You would have to ask yourself why would the crews of all the starships in the ‘Alien’ franchise usually eat before hibernation, more so as they certainly have an appetite after revival. At least frozen, the food in their stomachs isn’t likely to go off. Obviously, there is a need for energy when awoken but does it mean their metabolisms are totally shutdown in the deep freeze? Are their gut microbes slowly digesting their last meals and maintaining their guts so reducing any problems with their digestions? Mind you, we don’t see how long it takes to come out of deep freeze and if is it several hours then the food in their stomachs would be digested to give them their first bout of energy. No burping allowed although looking at those who were sick after awaking, having an empty stomach might have proven it wasn’t a good idea.

 

Observation: Wouldn’t all home planets of alien species be their named their own Earths?

 

Observation: Now here’s an interesting problem from the 1984 film, ‘2010: The Year We Made Contact’. Heywood Floyd is told by the being that was David Bowman that they had two days to get out of Jupiter space. Fair enough, we see how the Leonov uses the Discovery as a launch vehicle to get going. Thing is all the moons surrounding Jupiter are way within the blast area when Jupiter is converted into a star, so why weren’t they incinerated? Are we missing part of the alien moment where the monoliths were protecting them? You would have thought a little act of faith from the Monoliths to protect the humans there before sending them on their way would have been a good move. Then again, the other flaw in the film is how did the USA and USSR bicker over a missile crisis for two years before doing something about it. We know things move a lot faster than that in real life.

 

Observation: If that’s profound, why is profanity swearing? Afterall, ‘profound’ means of great knowledge and the latter means I’m taking the piss at the spelling.

 

Bizarre Things We Might Consider Having: Carpet that resembles floorboards for people who’d rather not get splinters.

 

I’m puzzled: If this Network Envy is so good, why is its competitor promoting it in the adverts as being better than its own product and why can’t it be bought? Bring back semaphore, at least you knew when you were being flagged.

 

Feeling Stressed: Feel, happy, as I’m going to discuss boredom in next month’s editorial, unless I’m bored about the subject by then.

 

 

UncleGeoff

Geoff Willmetts has been editor at SFCrowsnest for some 21 plus years now, showing a versatility and knowledge in not only Science Fiction, but also the sciences and arts, all of which has been displayed here through editorials, reviews, articles and stories. With the latter, he has been running a short story series under the title of ‘Psi-Kicks’ If you want to contribute to SFCrowsnest, read the guidelines and show him what you can do. If it isn’t usable, he spends as much time telling you what the problems is as he would with material he accepts. This is largely how he got called an Uncle, as in Dutch Uncle. He’s not actually Dutch but hails from the west country in the UK.

4 thoughts on “Editorial – May 2021: An identity chip implant would restore civil rights and personal identity.

  • An identity chip implant is not in itself a civil liberties concern. It provides theoretical absolute proof that you are who you say you are if you need to prove your identity.

    The concern is, can your *location* be tracked because you have the chip implant? There will be many people with valid reasons to be anonymous who will *not* want their location known, because there are someplace where the last thing they want is for anyone to know who they really are.

    So the question for any ID chip will be “Can it be tracked *remotely*, and reveal where it is?” It should not be able to *broadcast* its location, or be remotely triggered to do so.

    An ID chip that can *only* be accessed locally, from where you are when you need to prove you identity, does not present the privacy risk things like traceable devices you carry do.

    The thornier question is the level of risk perceived by being tracked. Something can follow you around and know where you are. What threat does that present? What Bad Things might occur because of it that would affect you?

    An awful lot of the fuss I’ve seen in the US over privacy strikes me as misplaced, and my response to the majority of posts on the topic would be “Dude! You aren’t important! You don’t matter! Nobody, repeat _nobody_ *cares* who you are, where you are, what you think, or what you do. If you fell into a bottomless pit tomorrow, nobody (with the possible exception of your family or close friends,) will even *notice*.”

    But I suspect that’s the underlying problem. The folks who feel that way think they are helpless and no longer have control of their own lives. Obsession with privacy is an attempt to have at least some control, even if it isn’t the control they fear the no longer have.
    ______
    Dennis

    Reply
    • Hello Dennis
      The main reason why I expanded on ID chips this time was seeing comments elsewhere about civil liberties and needed to show it does actually give them back. No one seems to mind that you can be tracked by your mobile phone simply by transmitter triangulation and that is already happening and yet it is a loss of civil liberty given by corporations not governments.
      An ID chip is the same way as used in pets. Until you put a scanner over them, you don’t know who they are so it does maintain your anonymity. A chip does not have a battery or any means to broadcast a signal. I didn’t even cover the possibility that it could be used as a replacement for a passport.
      As to level of ‘importance’ depends on celebrity status to criminal intent The protection of identity is proof of identity.
      Geoff

      Reply
  • Giving up freedom for security whether civic or finsncil eventuslly results in you possessing neither. Jost a high tech method of “Let me see your papers peasant!”

    Reply
    • Hello William

      But doesn’t that already happen when you have a mobile phone that tracks you and supplies you with adverts based on your current tastes?
      Methinks this door is already open.
      Geoff

      Reply

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