To think that no employer is sticking a chip in me

[Polarbearflavour]

www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/nov/11/alarm-over-talks-to-implant-uk-employees-with-microchips?CMP=fb_gu

Is it just me or is this totally bizarre? The huge company considering this in the UK is reportedly Amazon.

If your employer (Amazon) decides to implant you as part of your employment, I wonder if the implant can be easily removed if you resign?

I remember reading conspiracy theories about this years agothat were always brushed off as paranoia. I wonder what else will become true!

I reckon it will become unavoidable eventually. Part of terms and conditions of various services, employment etc.

There's no way on this earth I'd go and work for a company that insisted I was microchipped. I'm a person not a pet dog/cat. The trouble is, if most employers decide to do this then most people will have little choice in the matter. Get the chip or no job. The NHS insist on having certain injections now, if you don't, then no job.

Cats don't have owners.

They have staff.

Sorry, couldn't resist it!

It depends what it's for.
If it was instead of a security card for work yes.
If it was so I could be tracked no way.
Although if I can put trackers in my cats that would save me A LOT of anxiety when they decide to be late home.

It depends what it's for
therein lies the rub
how can we know what it's for?
once it's in it can be repurposed (via some form of software updates) to suit the whims of whoever has something to gain from monitoring or controlling you.

but now we are all clued in to the idea that 'if it's free you are the product'
and only the very naive will fall in with the 'nothing to hide nothing to fear' narrative
so how will they sell it to us?

Wordthe I don't think everyone is clued in to that idea. They will say it makes our life easier, they will say that it keeps out children safe, will give us discounts on insurance if we can show that we drive safely/choose to live in a "safer " way (less likely to claim), will make it faster to pay for things and they will probably say that it makes things more secure. As well as the "if you've got nothing to hide why wouldn't you have it".

DH & I were saying that the chip should have a default 'No Access' status; but something has to happen to access it. Like speaking or typing a password. Then the access would only last for 2-3 minutes before shutting off again.

DH reckons govt will have some kind of high tech scanners that can over-ride the default Off status. Is that really so different from CCTV allowed everywhere? I must be getting old coz I can't muster up fear of this one.

Vacc'n rates among NHS frontline staff are still lowish, < 70%.
Some trusts only 39% got flu jab in next link.
There are recurring threats to bar the unjabbed from frontline roles, but NHS is way too under-staffed to ever carry out the threats.

It’s a slippery slope imo

One day we will all have one and everything will be on it
Bank account financial info about debts etc. employment info and history passport health conditions and medication info Everything about us
So basically we will all have to have a chip to live a normal life

Scary stuff. But that’s where we’re going

I don't believe any information on us will be kept private, it will be for sale, just as it is now.
As for confidential info, if you look at companies such as credit cards, they have a vested interest to keep your data safe, as they are liable. But even they cant stop their databases being hacked.

Jesus.
Not a fucking chance. Are people actually insane?Why would you want to voluntarily microchip yourself? You're not a bloody dog!
I don't understand those who track their other halves and kids via phones as it's a normal thing to do either.
Creepy stalkery more like.
Paying for things via your hand? Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. What could criminals do to get round that, I wonder?
Just... nope.

No way. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

crunchydatola it's completely different to CCTV!

At the moment no CCTV can see me or know what I'm doing. If I had a chip there would be lots of information available about me. For example: where I am, what I am doing, what I have eaten (the fridge would tell you), what my body is doing (blood sugar, pulse, temperature etc), whether I had a shower this morning, whether I had sex last night, how much I have interacted with the other people in my house this morning, whether I've spent any money today, what exercise I've taken etc etc.

I don't know how those of you who don't think implants are a problem think that it's "nearly the same" as the way we live now.

Absolutely mad. I’m very pro-tech and usually in favour of advancement but the prospect of having a chip in me that could be permanently tracking me, collecting data about my life for companies to buy and sell, potentially being hacked or cloned, controlling behaviour through fear of surveillance etc. It’s bloody dystopian.

Yawn

My fridge doesn't know that I had Japanese sweets at work today. Or how many cups of tea much less what kind of tea. Honestly. It's just not that clever. It doesn't know that I finished DS's fruit bread this morning (but added extra butter, butter doesn't even live in the fridge you see) or that I bought a cheesy thing from Lidl yesterday. Or that I added the extra veg from the pot to my tea. But if the fridge did know all that... oh well, good power to it.

In theory, near future, fitbit-type devices will know all the blood oxygen/sugar stuff too, I suppose. I know the fit-bit devices at moment can't figure out when I'm asleep, so credit to anyone who can programme one to figure out who is having sex.

T'internet is currently SO BAD at figuring out what things I want to buy, that no way is a chip gonna improve on that. I waiver between despair, astonishment & amusement at the ads google etc. try to serve up at me. Never ever are they appropriate.

ps: the fitbit added 700 steps because I jiggled my leg during a lecture. But the fitbit completely couldn't understand when I was out cycling hard. I wonder how big an implanted chip would have to be to have a hope in figuring out accurately what I was actually doing.

Security aside, for at least a decade this has come up amongst my male techie friends around twice a year and the clincher which makes them all conclude that 'it'll never happen' is that 'they'd never get members of the public to have something implanted under their skin on a large scale'. I presume none of them have a female partner with a contraceptive implant!

I think it's worth noting that smartphones already contain far more information (including location tracking) than a chip would.

No my fridge doesn't know that either, and people generally don't have implanted chips now either. We're talking about potential future risks.

They, the Government or employers, can fuck off. I would rather live off the grid than submit to this. We have just had Remembrance Sunday do we really think millions died so that we could all be slaves.

Awful idea!

I cant see it catching on until t he price reduces and legislation is in place to cover it.

Each one costs £150, a box of 10 access fobs is around £20. The access fobs can be reused when an employee leaves unlike a microchip. You would need to anticipate high improveme nts in timeliness/productivity to.make it financially viable. If current management is so poor that so.much time is being lost to punctuality then they would be better looking at their performance management process.

Then their are the legal implications of assuring that employees are not tracked outside of work, that the chip.is deactivated/removed if employment ceases, is it implanted immediately or after probation, if immediately does the company absorb the cost if probation is unsuccesful or not, in which case how can you charge someone for a chip they dont want.

Also practically, who.implants and removes it? Would they need some kind of certification?

It feels like this is very much a 'one day' idea.