<p>What about your minor child? It can arguably be said that a lost child is more important than a lost cat or dog. Why isn’t this something we’re willing to consider?</p>
<p>There are a few situations where I would put a monitored chip in my child’s sneakers or shoes. </p>
<p>1) if my child was a wanderer. One friends son would often walk out of school at the tender age of 5 and walk home. No sidewalks and relatively busy streets. He would also leave home when angry and just keep walking. He was a master escape artist.</p>
<p>2) if I was in a contentious / abusive relationship with an ex who I was afraid would take the child. </p>
<p>I would really hesitate to under the skin chip a child as I would not want someone cutting up my kid to remove the chip.</p>
<p>3) I would seriously consider under the skin monitored chipping of an elderly confused adult that has a history of wandering.</p>
<p>I think it’s a really interesting question. </p>
<p>Will doctors (I assume it requires a doctor) do this? </p>
<p>Reminds me of “A BEautiful Mind,” where the main character (forget his name) imagined he was marked with a microchip.</p>
<p>As they say, VH, Just becaurs you’re pranoid doesnt mean they’re not out to get you. ;)</p>
<p>Um…because microchips only work when you’re next to a scanner, and trying to figure out a kid’s identity is rarely a problem?</p>
<p>The gps locators are a different – not implantable afaik – and if I had a wanderer putting one on a shoe or in a jacket or on an armband/watch-like-thing isn’t a terrible idea. Probably more use in the early Alzheimers population than with kids, I’d guess. </p>
<p>I’d consider a GPS locator for an early Alzheimers patient, but I’m afraid in their confusion they’d remove the watch or necklace, or not be wearing the jacket or shoe, so it would be of limited utility.</p>
<p>It might have helped with the autistic boy in NYC who went missing and was later found dead.</p>
<p>Is that the same boy who ran out of school and his remain we’re found in a ditch of some sort?</p>
<p>Generally, minor children are able to communicate and tell people who they are. Cats and dogs can’t.</p>
<p>Niquii, his remains were found 11 miles away from where he went missing, as the crow flies, in a body of water. However, since he was only a boy and couldn’t fly, his actual trip must have been much more convoluted. It was on the news a lot in the NY area. I think the family is suing the school, which knew he had a tendency to wander away. He was supposed to be under constant supervision.</p>
<p>A very sad situation.</p>
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<p>+1</p>
<p>I could see this in elderly/Alzheimer’s individuals or children who do not have the mental capacity to tell someone their home/phone number/whatever and who are old enough to run away. (I’m thinking here of a cousin of mine who is physically 23 but has about the mental capacity of a four year old and you can’t understand him when he attempts to speak.) </p>
<p>In neuro and developmentally typical children, it bothers me because I just think it has the power to be greatly abused. </p>
<p>romani, what do you mean, “It has the power to be greatly abused”? What does??</p>
<p>Well, as someone who has found a lost toddler wandering the mall it seems like a good idea (the GPS part). Kid was normal but at 2 and 3 not much help in finding who he was.especially since he was so upset. Of course, it was easy to finally spot the parents—they were REALLY upset. (Yes, we had taken him to mall security). </p>
<p>I seriously would have put a GPS monitor on my kids when they were little for crowded events or malls if it had been available. Not fool proof but a heck of a lot better than nothing. The panic you feel when a toddler gets lost probably shortens your life by a few years.</p>
<p>VeryHappy- putting a microchip in your child… What did you think I was talking about? </p>
<p>How does it have the potential to be abused? Controlling parents who use it to track the every movement of their child. </p>
<p>I thought we were talking about little kids, who aren’t supposed to be wandering into the unknown. Not all kids end up near adults to tell them their name, etc. The kidnapped kid may not have the opportunity.
I considered enabling GPS on my kids’ cells, when they were in hs. Not to abuse them. Never did it, but you’d have to hear the tales of where mine ended up- and incommunicado. I’m not talking about being at a friend’s. </p>
<p>For the unaware elderly who roam, it could be a non-removable band. </p>
<p>VeriChip, anyone? 16 digits does not take you too far.</p>
<p>As far as I’m aware, the current state of the tech does not yet allow to embed GPS devices into flesh. All GPS devices are currently in some forms of wearable bands and need batteries (not yet possible to run them off ambient backscatter) which means that they are not permanent.</p>
<p>I agree romani–tracking adults should not be allowed. Definite potential of abuse. So what do you think of insurance companies and car companies (their added advantage!) putting chips in your car so they know how you drive and where you are and where you’ve been? New cars come that way. DON’T answer that–don’t want to get in trouble and it’s not why the thread was started. But it is a slippery slope. One minute it’s for your or someone else’s safety and then suddenly it is not.</p>
<p>sorry for that brain stutter, romani. The winter has turned me dumb.</p>