Advantages and Disadvantages of ID Tracking on Individuals - Essay Example

Pros and Cons of Tracking People Due We live in an incredible fast-paced era where the scientific capabilities and technological advances sometimes seem to change every day. What one day is new and innovative is outdated and obsolete a short time later when a new product has taken its place. This kind of technology leads to a long list of ethical, moral, and societal concerns about the advantages and disadvantages of the application of that technology. Today one thing we worry a great deal about is safety.

The inventions created over the years to make people feel safer are unending. From armed residents to security systems, from home surveillance to guard dogs; human beings go to great extremes to secure themselves, their families, and their belongings. One suggestion to make people safer and impossible to lose; they suggest tracking them. Of course, the idea of finding a lost child instantaneously is ideal for a frantic parent, but others question whether your persistent location is an invasion of individual and personal privacy; not to mention that they have some less than properly addressed physical and technological inefficiencies that work against it.

In order to understand the issues with tracking human beings it is best to understand more about the technology involved. Most people are familiar with GPS, which allows us to track our vehicles, our cell phones, our pets, and on occasion even our children (Collins, 2011).However, the newest technology being considered is Radio Frequency Identification, or RFID. There are three types of tags available. 1. Active RFID Tags: This requires batters to trigger the different signals through an antenna system (Alam, 2012).2. Passive RFID Tags: This form does not have a battery internalized and required an external power source to trigger it (Alam, 2012). 3. Battery-assisted Passive RFID Tags: Has external and internal battery requirements (Alam, 2012).

The RFID technology, when implanted is consider efficient and less likely to fail due to its protection from damage inside the body (Gilani, 2013).The other advantages, many experts say, is that it will help parents track their children, help families track elderly who are prone to wandering away, and for patients brought into the hospital in critical and non-conscious states; if their imperative medical information is carried within a tracking device it would make treating this patient easier.

Unfortunately not everyone is as eager to see this sort of technology embraced. There are some ethical issues that arise, which include security of information. What and whom can guarantee that that information is not compromised? What if someone could “hack” into the system and locate your children without your knowledge. If ones medical information is there for emergency conveniences what prevents people from tapping into it? Implanted RFID can lead to a negative reaction within the body.

Your body could reject the implant or the implant could migrate and cause other complications. Although the technology is sound, it is not at all infallible. If too many people who have all been implanted with tags are all in one location together it can cause a system overload or it could cause the information to be inaccurate (Gilani, 2013). This could be incredibly dangerous in medical settings. For this reason the disadvantages and the unknown consequences outweigh the positives that the technology may offer.

Many people consider the entire idea to be completely and dangerously invasive of people’s privacy; more so it may make people feel as it their day-to-day lives are being monitored. These questions are what keep RFID technology so very controversial. All the same, the ideas behind the technology, the intentions, were positive. Unfortunately, we live in a world where those who misuse technology are always lurking. Until security, efficiency, and medical absolutes are determined and addressed, then it would be unwise to place too much certainty in the technology.

We live in a modern time where technology is changing everyday and one of the most important questions we must always ask ourselves is, coined by Jurassic Park fame, just because we have the means to do a thing, does not necessarily mean that we should. We cannot afford to embrace a security technology that may ultimately prove to be a cause of more harm that it resolves. ReferencesAlam, S. N. (2012, February 29). Rfid chips in humans. Retrieved from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/rfid-chip-in-humans.

html Collins, M. C. (2011, July 24). Pros and cons of childrens gps tracking watches. Retrieved from http://www.insidetechnology360.com/index.php/pros-and-cons-of-childrens-gps-tracking-watches-3865/ Gilani, N. (2013). Advantages & disadvantages of rfid. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/list_6116737_advantages-disadvantages-rfid.html