>>" But guns can't carry out terrorist acts, or molest children, or sell crack, or bribe public officials"
>>>>How would an electronic chip affect any of these ?
Prior offenses are listed on chip - if a child is molested in a neighborhood, just scan the area - don't have to investigate who are local registered offenders, check their homes (they're not there if they're guilty, they're at the molester-buddy's home), then investigate who are the friends, etc... Just scan area, and you get a list of all registered offenders within five square miles (or whatever you want). Or a guy applies for a job a a nursery, you just scan em for prior offenses. Or for drug convictions, etc. We can keep em out of where they shouldn't be (druggies out of pharmacies for example, or anywhere where they might steal money).
Just some examples...
How would you update the chip -- isn't it read only ?
You don't understand the technology. RFID chips are passive devices. They must be excited by a strong magnetic field to generate enough power to squawk the ID number. The range varies from 5 inches to about 5 feet. The anti-theft scanners at retail stores are typically the 5 foot variety and they require the very large antennas (5 feet tall) on either side of the doors to operate properly.
Most RFID chips just squawk a unique number. The RFID reader is responsible for using that number as a database key to retrieve relevant information.
Too scary..Besides , some kid will figure out a way to change what the chip tells us( probably in a day or two ) and post it on the internet.