Safety or invasion of privacy.

By that I meant that I agree with Privacy International's views, not that I have anything to do with them!

www.pbs.org/newshour/show/human-microchipping-sparks-debate-over-privacy-exploitation Do please take the time to read this and make up your own minds about microchipping humans. I am afraid I am with Privacy International, but younger generations won't have a problem with it I fear.

Jalima, a drunk fight we would have ignored but these two were making very nearly successful attempts to impale each other on iron railings, long and pointed, which could have ended with one of them on a minimum of a manslaughter charge. That seemed to us to require police intervention - and I still think so.

notanan2 As someone who for many years lived yards from the Reading University Campus and knows it well. If a drunken student went missing late at night between the union and a hall of residence. The first place I would look is in the lake, as that is by far the most likely place for them to disappear. You can search an on land area and a lake at the same time. It just needs a large crowd of volunteers for dry land and a team of specialist divers/underwater searchers for the lake.

I saw a picture this week of a specialist team breaking up ice on a lake/pond elsewhere in the country looking for a body.

A couple said that they heard a woman screaming in distress on the night the girl went missing.
We could not hear that and just stay in bed and do nothing.

Drunks fighting are one thing, M0nica but we have several times over the years found people in distress and helped them.
Of course, these days, you can never be sure if they're carrying a knife or not.

The person who DID STOP and check on the girl has nothing to feel guilty about.... that'll be the ones who didnt.

And as if the police didnt try their best to find that lad based on the info they had at the time... also being somewhat cold and logical: finding his dead body in a frozen lake sooner rather than later wouldnt makr him less dead. Better to rule out places where he might be saved first surely

I cannot imagine a world where babies are microchipped at birth!

Ellen She told him she was fine. Men have to be so careful these days because of the danger of false accusation of sexual assault - and anyway there was no guarantee the emergency services would come out.

DH steers well clear of emergency services ever since he rang them one night when two drunks were fighting outside our house and trying to impale each other on our metal railings. We did not want that to happen so rang 999. The drunks were still fighting when the police arrived and they took one look at the situation,left them fighting and then threatened to arrest and charge DH with wasting police time.

The trouble comes when this kind of technology gets in the wrong hands.

It froze after he disappeared, the police have done everything they could and they’ve had the lowland search and rescue out searching so everything possible was done.

I'd like to know what gives anyone the right to approach young girls, drunk or not ?
NORMAL people ring for assistance ( authorities ) if they see people in distress of sorts alone on a bitterly cold night.

Didn't a chap in a car stop to ask if she was alright ? It was up to him to phone the emergency services of his concern.
I would have done, especially this day and age. If anything has happened that man is going to be racked with guilt.

.... and if he walked on the ice there would be a hole where he fell through.

Ice is breakable.

The lake was frozen until Monday.

Yes, he was found in the lake on the campus. Having lived in Reading for half my life, mostly close to the university, that is the first place I would have looked. I am surprised it took so long to find him.

What a tragedy for his parents.

I know the technology is there, it’s an interesting concept and I guess we are probably very close to it being a reality.
Very frightening thought as to how it may have been used historically and what the consequences may have been.
I think right now if it kept my child/grandchild safe then I would probably be an advocate.

A body has been found this morning in the Reading case.

Similar thing happened to a young fresher last autumn, he went missing after a night out drinking, lots of people searched and he was found weeks later in the river. Alcohol was involved although I believe there are conditions which make you look drunk when you have not had alcohol.

I can see benefits of us all being chipped but I wouldn't like it to be one which could be tracked. Imagine how helpful it would be to identify yourself at a job centre, hospital etc. blood group, serious health conditions, no proving you had a right to anything, it would all be on your chip. No checking age or your right to drive. Straight through at the airport. Could be quite useful if the infrastructure was in place.

If the technology for these chips evolves, then the technology to scan for them will also evolve and if someone is kidnapped or a child is stolen, they will be subjected to the chip being removed , probably in a very unpleasant way.

It doesn't bear thinking about.

How quickly people jump to impute blame. I said she was drunk. I did not discuss whether this was because her drink was spiked or because she had chosen to drink too much. However she was clearly under-dressed for the weather and that was her choice. Again I am not imputing blame. I am just stating that she would have made that choice.

Quite honestly, now and again why shouldn't we blame people? If more people took responsibility for their actions the better it would be

and before you start running the sexism hare. What I am saying applies to the young man missing from Reading University as well. Too much drink, probably insufficient clothes for the weather.

Some people are safer missing than found.....

Many have caring families desperate to have them back. A good few others feel safer on the streets or in prison than at home..

MOnica, this is still an ongoing investigation, Libby appeared to be drunk, she could have had her drink spiked, no one knows for certain.
Your post is suggesting she was to blame for whatever may have happened.
I’m sure that any one of my three AC have at some point been vulnerable after too much alcohol.
Therefore but the grace of God.....

Privacy is a fairly modern concept, it didn't exist a couple of hundred years ago, but it is something I cherish. Younger generations don't value it nearly as much, and perhaps the circle will come round again.

I am quite sure babies will all be chipped at birth one or two generations further down the line. The chip will store all their medical records, bank details, access to home and office, and location details, possibly even their voting records and beliefs. The details will be available to every government organisation, police, hospital etc, it will make controlling the population so much easier. Hacking into these chips will become a major focus for criminals and foreign powers.

It is not a world I would want to be a part of, but it I don't think it will worry overmuch those who have never known anything different.

My heart goes out to the parents of any missing child, and I can understand how attractive it would seem to be able to call up their location on a screen when you would do absolutely anything to get them back. I pray that the parents will get some information soon.

Terrifying thought. No privacy, abusers able to trace their victims.

I doubt if a chip system would have been any use in this case. The girl concerned was staggering and incoherently drunk and inappropriately dressed for freezing cold weather. By the time it was realised she was missing and any chip activated it would probably be too late anyway, she would already have died of hypothermia. The same would apply if she had been abducted, assaulted and then chucked out of a car somewhere.

This would just be another step towards 1984 control. A frightening idea. It can be done it a person has their phone,as I understand.

It is dreadful of course that these young people have disappeared and I hope they turn up.

I think CCTV and phone trackers can be a massive help in finding missing people such as these students.
I hope these two are found quickly and that they are reunited with their families who must be distraught.