This doesn’t feel like debate material so I’m putting it here. Mods, feel free to do what Mods do.
Should all Americans be issued dog tags, a la the military type used right now? Imagine. Dog tags. Medical records. Bar Codes laser etched into metal, allowing for immediate ID alive or dead- and immediate entering into a database for family matching/lost relatives/finding one’s family in the same large refugee center, etc.
Set aside the entire " loss of privacy " issues, if there are any. I cannot see a downside to wearing them and were I in a place where I might not be alive for long I’d be darned glad to have them on. Similarly, were I in a bad accident anywhere, said medical information would be on my corpus. How to make it current? Simple. Smart chips are like flash memory sticks, only smaller. When you go to the Dr., any updates are entered on your way out. Alternately, as your files are updates at the Dr’s, you can log onto your account name with the Dr and download your current meds, conditions, info and whatnot.
Imagine the savings in man-hours and real dollars that has been spent in the last two weeks- and will be spent in the coming months. Imagine the savings in DNA tests and waiting time saved by families frantic to find the remains of a family member. When moving thousands of people suddenly en masse by bus and whatnot, their whereabouts and movements can be easily tracked by taking a few seconds per person to log in their Dog Tag as they get onto a bus, register in a shelter, and so on. The logistics of locating and tracking as folks get their lives back together slowly would be simplified, it seems to me.
Personally I would welcome the idea of dog tags in a big way. A National ID card would be lost. Witness how many people in the hurricane-stricken area ran with nothing in hand, including wallet, ID, driver’s license and so on. Dog tags are worn on the body, and wouldn’t be left behind.
If you’re wooried about fixing information to people, why not brand them? Dog tags can be removed. A brand, tattoo, or RFID chip would be much more effective, and can’t be lost.
With new technology, one could have RFID chips implanted in several places on the body- the head, hands, and feet as well as the torso- in order to identify a mutilated corpse.
Of course, this also could be used to track every movement of any particlular person, and the implications of what can be done with this information is left up to the paranoid.
Oh- the downside. Get your dogtags caught in some machinery. If one must wear it all the time, it’s a problem; if it’s not compulsory it will be left behind just as any ID card might.
That’s like saying “setting aside the whole dying bit, what’s wrong with jumping out of an airplane naked?”
Maybe I don’t want to be identified. Screw what anybody else of the Government wants. My wants always take precedence.
I agree. One of the great things about America is that you can use any name you want, as long as it isn’t for the pupose of commiting a crime. This would be lost if we all had to wear dogtags, unless those could have whatever name we wnt on them, in which case they would be utterly useless.
Damn straight. Call me paranoid if you must, but the day this takes effect is the day that I drop out of society and join the tinfoil hat crew downtown (btw, tinfoil actually does deflect the waves used in RFID tech, but you’d have to use a lot of it). This is the kind of stuff we should all be fighting against, not lobbying for! I should have the right to be anonymous if I want to be, not at the mercy of anyone who has a scanner.
And as for putting medical information on the card/tag/chip–haven’t you ever seen Gattaca? Hello, underclass of the sick/disabled/just slightly less perfect than others!
I can easily imagine a national dog-tag, or RF Chip, if put into effect, becoming the new required ID form. Hey, we all have to wear around these tags, why the heck do I need a drivers license/government ID as well.
Ok, I can see the point there, but now, every time I hand someone in a bar my ID, they get their hands on my entire medical file. Smart chips imbedded in them? Now I don’t even have to hand my card over. Potentially, someone with the right piece of equipment could read the info as I walked by, wearing my shiny tags.
Hell…I’m IN the military, and I only wear my dog tags when I’m deployed or in the field. (I’m supposed to wear them any time I’m in uniform, but I always forget). Why? They’re a pain in the butt…they rub on your neck, jangle (even with silencers) and pull chest hair out. When I’m out of the Army, I plan on hanging my dog tags on a nail somewhere and never wearing them again.
[QUOTE=The Mad Hermit]
With new technology, one could have RFID chips implanted in several places on the body- the head, hands, and feet as well as the torso- in order to identify a mutilated corpse.QUOTE]
Child: Daddy, why do I have to go to the doctor?
Dad: You are 4 years old now. It is time to get your RFID chips implanted.
Child: Why do I need RR RRR… RFID chips Daddy?
Dad: In case you ever get killed and your corpse gets mutilated, we will still know its you darling.
When I was in first grade, there was a program where our parents could sign us up to get fingerprinted. The police came to the school, and printed us (they mashed our little fingers down hard, too!) and the prints were kept on file. It was all part of the whole Stranger Danger craze at the time. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I actually thought it through and realized it was to identify wee corpses bloated beyond recognition.
Well, the clashing with pearls and ripping of chest hair would be avoided if they were only thrown on in case of emergency. I mean, people ran from their homes without their important papers but at first hint of a storm the likes of which hit the Gulf Coast, one might well throw on their dog tags and just suffer both the humiliation of clashing accessories and the lost secondary sex characteristics.
Cause, despite the apparently rich fertile ground for sarcasm and negativity, the real truth is that there are quite a few thousand people who are disconnected from their immediate families. And, there are quite a few thousand dead.
The suggestion stands as a good one, IMHO. ( Which is after all where this is posted. )
Wouldn’t a storm big enough to destroy a whole city be able to easily rip off someone’s dog tags? If they were on the ball chain regular dog tags are on I don’t think they’d be very durable; I had a few ball chain necklaces when I was a teenager and they’d break if I slammed them in a locker.
I just don’t want all my information in one place. Like someone on this board said once, the system is inefficient and has lots of holes, and sometimes that works to our benefit. Why should my doctor be able to see my employment history, or why should my banker see my travel itinerary? Even if we say these are for “emergencies,” pretty soon the definition of what an emergency is will expand until your employer deems that seeing the list of medications you’re taking and surgeries you’ve had is an emergency.
I wear a necklace with amedicalert tag, that happens to be a screaming red dog tag - my name, diabetic, pennicillin allergy, social security number and an emergency contact phone number. It also has the last rabies shot tag from my cat Banzai who died this past spring so I am sure that would raise a few eyebrows, and give another contact number in case they need to figure out who to call. Oh, and a nail clipper with a decent nail file=) I hate hangnails and for some stupid reason i get them, and I hate rough edges on my fingernails and if i didnt have clippers i woud bite my nails.
For us womenfolk, dog tags are made out of some metal that has the unfortunate property of turning your bra grey where it lies against it. Even if you put the big rubber black thing around it, it still rubs against your bra enough to turn it grey.
If you think that they are such a good idea Cartooniverse, why don’t you get some made and do your own trial for a few months. Let us know how it goes. People are free to wear these now. Or is this something that everyone else should do?
Another problem with tags is they can be stolen to use as fake identity or to misidentify a crime victim.
I feel it’s an excellent idea and yes there is potential for abuse. There’s potential for abuse everywhere. There is also the potential for such easy-to-read ID tags to be used for enormous benefit. Or, to turn it around, if Dog Tags are such an atrociously stupid idea, then why have they been used informally in the military since the Civil War and formally since 1899?
I never suggested putting one’s entire personal history on an ID chip. I did suggest putting personal data and medical history on a tag that would allow rapid identification whether conscious or not, and rapid identification of your body if you were found deceased.
As a former E.M.T., there were quite a few moments when I wished that an unresponsive patient had enough medical info available on their person so that I ( we, the first responding team ) could treat them accurately and contact their family/ medical doctor. If you have never been in that situation then perhaps it’s unwise to comment upon whether or not it is unreasonable to wish that all people wore basic ID tags.
I don’t wanna. I don’t want my medical history or any part of my life so easily accessible. I would go on, but **davenportavenger ** and the **Axe ** have already made my point better than I could. I would not wear one.
There ya go.