Safety or invasion of privacy.

I think there is some confusion between chips for identification and those for tracking purposes. Unless of course the functions cannot be separated, I really don't have the technical know how. I am in two minds about tagging dementia patients. I can understand people being concerned about the invasion of privacy etc but it must be so distressing for families and sufferers when they are missing. It's almost impossible to monitor someone 24/7. That means locked doors and other restrictions. As someone else said with all technology there is always somebody one step ahead often with criminal intent.

I don't think a year goes by without a student in Durham ending up in the river. We have endless pubby places and it enrages me that they do not come down heavily on those clubs etc which offer cheap drinks to students after hours. There was a girl crushed under barriers in the rush to get in one and a young man who had been in a coma for years died recently. I don't know if that was drink or sport related.
I am amazed that they have the money - I know I sound old fogey ish but DH had a grant of £11 a year and I had a full grant as my father had just died and I had no spare cash for anything other than a frothy coffee in La Cabala in Bold Street - the height of sophistication.

There are already devices to track elderly people with dementia who are in danger of wandering; for many carers it's a welcome alternative to drugging and virtual imprisonment.

Not so welcome as it happens because places that trialed this decided not to implement it!

If someone needs 24 waking care a chip is no substitute for that and they need placement, a chip wont tell you if they hit their head or broke their hip beside their own bed!

I wonder if in the future a DNA swab might be taken from each newborn’s mouth and stored in a huge (millions) database. Then when a crime is committed and DNA is ascertained the computer can be set to run until it finds a match ....even if it takes months it would come up with a name.

I'm with those who say implanting chips would cause other problems.

wherever she'd been drinking earlier in the evening, staff must have known how drunk she was.
Maybe not. Sometimes the drunkenness only really kicks in when the person goes outside.
Also, how do we know she was actually drunk? Maybe her drink was spiked.

people should never be chipped. awful idea. a newborn baby and that done would be abuse.
who knows if all this tech is safe even
and if people were chipped and abducted they would be harmed in the removal of the chip.

There are already devices to track elderly people with dementia who are in danger of wandering; for many carers it's a welcome alternative to drugging and virtual imprisonment. www.alzheimers.net/8-8-14-location-devices-dementia/
These devices work the same way as the GPS locator in your phone but are too large to be implantable.

No way. It’s an intrusion of privacy. It’s bad enough being tracked on CCTV every move we make.

I believe tracking chips have been invented, as there were suggestions that they should be embedded in the shoe heals of senile dement people in care facilities here in Denmark, so they couldn't just wander off. However, the suggestion has been turned down as infringing the individual's right to privacy.

To me chips in humans is going a step too far, as if there is one thing the electronic revolution has taught us, it is that every technological invention can and will be hacked.

How would we safeguard women and children in hiding from abusive husbands or fathers? Keep people safe from those that have stalked them?

So many students "missing" after a night out lately. We always used the Freshers Week to advise, don't go home alone, look out for each other. Also the Students Union ran a late night bus. I thought we could track using mobile phones without "chipping".

No, I am afraid the thought of chipping people is horrifying. Yes, I can see why some of you think it could be used for good, but I feel that it is so open to abuse and is very, very "big brother". The control over our lives could be terrifying.

Well said, GoldenAge

How things have changed. Back in the 1960's if I was out for the evening and it was after midnight I would get what was called the Workmans Bus. These were buses that ran every hour or so and were mainly for shift workers, but could be used by anyone else. I always felt safe on these, if anyone got on worse for drink they were quickly told to "leave the lass alone" by the men, they looked after you. Often one would be walking up my short way when I got off and you felt perfectly safe walking with one and chatting. Nowadays I wouldn't want my daughter doing that or even want to do it myself.

The priority would seem to be to discourage people of any age from becoming so drunk that they lose all sense. Surely it's the demon drink that renders people unsafe, whether from other people or from their own stupidity.

(And I do enjoy the odd glass of wine, so not a rabid teetotaller.)

A proposal has been made that older people suffering from dementia should be chipped in case they wander off and can't find their way home. Not me, please!

I've been following the missing girl story too and wonder why on earth the woman who woke up hearing screaming from 'someone who sounded scared' didn't do something? Phone the police, even switching on lights might have frightened away somebody doing harm.

My heart goes out to anyone who has a relative or loved one go missing. But we can't subscribe to a mass programme of chipping newborns - this is taking away what we all of us as humans possess - agency. What about people who want to escape abusive parents, partners or simply want their own privacy? Those who go missing are very much in the minority and I'm not at all in favour of legislation to reduce personal freedoms any more than we have. I hope for a good outcome for all those with missing relatives.

I remember my 16 year old daughter running away at night after a telling off. She has always been a very sensitive girl. We looked for her for hours. Finally went to the police. but when they heard she was 16 they did not want to know. Apparently if a 16 year old goes missing that is their choice. She rang us up from a nearby village next day and we went to collect her and I think there were some tears and we didn't have many rows after that...She is 54 now.

I am in agreement to some extent with your views on personal responsibility GabriellaG54, others have to put their own safety at risk dealing with the irresponsibility of others. But conversely people should be safe on the streets, it's sad this is not the case now.

My hubby has young onset dementia. I had him tracked by his phone, wearing a gps tracker and ID seen into his clothing. I’d have done anything to keep him findable. He’s unfortunately in a care home now but I was terrified he’d become a statistic and go missing. I can’t insgine how these young people’s family are feeling. ?

The family of this young woman must be going through hell but NO to compulsory chipping of human beings, please!
I can't think of anything more nightmarish!

Often people can be traced via their phones nowadays. But I think chipping us might be a step too far. Plenty people don't want their movements traced - i.e. cheating spouses, people using sex workers, going to gay clubs etc. But DH and i regularly go on escorted tour holidays and sometimes someone gets lost and is late rejoining the group. I think before long it's possible when we go on these type of holidays we could be issued with trackers. I think technology has a long way to go. We just have to be careful how we use it.

* lo her longer

It comes down to personal responsibility. Everyone knows the results of getting steaming drunk and the young woman in question fell over twice after getting out of the taxi after being refused entry to the club for being drunk.
So wherever she'd been drinking earlier in the evening, staff must have known how drunk she was.
We can't get away from the fact that if these men and women are old enough to live away from home, albeit in halls, old enough to drink and drive, then they are old enough to bear the consequences.
What I found odd, was the woman's mother's facebook post about her daughter arriving home thst night. It seemed really odd IMO and calling her 'pie'.
Too much drunkenness altogether. People no lo her go out for a drink or two. They go out with a determination to get hammered and then 70+ police and hundreds of volunteers spend hundreds of hours looking for them.