An 11-year-old girl from Reading is to be fitted with a
microchip in the hope that her movements can be traced if she is
abducted, according to various newspaper reports today. However,
the technology implant, a reaction by the child’s parents to the
recent abduction of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, could be
futile.
According to The Guardian, Professor Kevin Warwick of the
University of Reading’s Department of Cybernetics said the device
will be implanted in the arm of Danielle Duval. The Guardian
writes: “The miniature chip will apparently send a signal via a
mobile phone network to a computer, which will be able to pinpoint
her location on an electronic map.”
Professor Warwick acknowledged that he has still to find a means
of recharging the chip’s battery and it has not be decided whether
or not the chip’s emitter should be active all the time or be
activated only in an emergency. However, he told The Guardian that
he does expect Danielle to be fitted with the chip "in the next few
months," under local anaesthetic. The Times reports that six other
mothers contacted Professor Warwick last night to request the
treatment for their children.
Danielle said, “I would feel so much safer knowing that mum and
dad could find me in an emergency.” Her parents, Wendy and Paul
Duval, said they hoped that the chip would also be fitted to
Danielle’s younger sister, Amy, 7, but not until she is old enough
to understand it.
News site The Register raises the concern that the Duvals and
the media may not understand the technology either:
"An 'invisible' device that handles both GPS
and mobile phone communications, and doesn't need its batteries
changing every five seconds would clearly make [Professor Warwick]
a large fortune, if it existed. Which manifestly it doesn't."
The Register’s excellent critique of the coverage concludes that
it is “complete hokum and under the circumstances pernicious.”
