# LoJack for Humans. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 3, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lojack-for-humans/636609 "2012-10-03T18:29:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lojack-for-humans/636609/41 "2012-10-08T17:40:42Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > This already exists and it’s called a cell phone. (Minus the vital sign monitoring, but that’s already in the works and will be here within a few years.) > > As long as I maintain complete ownership and control, I’m all for it. That’s why I have a cell phone I own, which is rooted and controlled by me, unlike an iphone or unrooted android for instance. Someone else is always trying to exert control, however, so we have to be constantly vigilant and proactive. Not quite the same, IMHO. This is more of a in-built security, anti-crime and health monitoring device. Especially useful for the absent-minded, disabled, incapacitated, and [parents and their children.](http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PageServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=2810#1) > [@National Center for Missing & Exploited Children](#): > > **How many children are reported missing each year?** > > The U.S. Department of Justice reports > > •Nearly **800,000** children younger than 18 are missing each year, or an average of **2,185** children reported missing each day. > • More than **200,000** children were were abducted by family members. > • More than **58,000** children were abducted by nonfamily members. > • **115** children were the victims of “stereotypical” kidnapping. These crimes involve someone the child does not know or a slight acquaintance who holds the child overnight, transports the child 50 miles or more, kills the child, demands ransom, or intends to keep the child permanently. So, the CIA as decided to violate my constitutional rights, and can see I’m at home, at Target, or at a bar somewhere in Detroit. :shrug: They can pretty much do this now, since I, and millions of others, have a smartphone as you say. Except, unlike the smartphone, it has no private data on it, like emails, passwords, acct. numbers, address book with names and numbers and addresses, etc. that can truly be exploited by any nefarious peoples. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lojack-for-humans/636609/42 "2012-10-08T18:12:23Z")
Right now, no. But I could envision a point in time where such a chip might be used as a common form of biometric identification or commerce. I go to a lot of industry lectures on “big data” and in spite of all the fears of government agencies or corporations tracking your every move, it doesn’t really work that way. Well, it does and it doesn’t. The trend these days is to add more sensors and more tracking to pretty much anything that can be sensed or tracked. All with the end goal of figuring out how to sell better, build better spaces for people to live and work in, create more efficient networks of information and transportation, all sort of stuff. It could get to the point where not having a chip installed would be more of a pain in the ass than actually having it. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lojack-for-humans/636609/43 "2012-10-08T18:34:30Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Not long after I posted the OP, the thought occured to me of including a “kill-phrase”, When I first read this, I thought this feature might be useful to the _death panels_ under Obamacare. Broadcast the “kill-phrase” and take 'em out!!! ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lojack-for-humans/636609/44 "2012-10-08T19:01:32Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Yep. Me too. > > Everyone used to freak out about paying for things online in the 90s, now it’s as commonplace as swiping your debit card at the store. > > Does phishing or identity fraud still happen sure, but with something like this, really, what’s to exploit, and why would it be worth the hassle for criminals? Wow, that reminds me that when I was a kid, my Mom once walked out of a store because they were asking for a digital signature and she felt her privacy was being violated. Now it seems like everybody’s business is public knowledge thanks to the miracle of technology, and most people in succeeding generations really don’t care. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lojack-for-humans/636609/45 "2012-10-09T08:29:35Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > Wow, that reminds me that when I was a kid, my Mom once walked out of a store because they were asking for a digital signature and she felt her privacy was being violated. Now it seems like everybody’s business is public knowledge thanks to the miracle of technology, and most people in succeeding generations really don’t care. OMG! Y2K! It’s a brave new world, for sure. Besides, most banks and credit institutions are insured against fraud, and identity theft. It’d scare the hell out of this generation, mostly, because they’ll start facebooking rumors about hackers locating healthy victims, and next thing they know, they wake up in bath of ice, less a kidney or two. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lojack-for-humans/636609.md?page=2)