Woot!

Security under the skin.  This is a NaNoWriMo plot device waiting to happen!

A US company has been given the green light to implant microchips in humans.  It's intended to provide medical information ... but will it turn into a surveillance system?  How would you like to have the equivalent of a barcode built into your arm?  It would be convenient.  A quick scan could save the need to show passports or ID cards.  It would be handier than carrying cash or producing medical records.  And a particularly clever barcode would let people find you if you were lost or abducted.  Would it mean less hassle and more security?  Or would it make you feel like a DVD tagged in the supermarket?  Or like a criminal being monitored everywhere you went?  These are the questions being raised by the emergence of microchips that can be implanted in people's arms - with the technology moving from geeky future-gazing to a mainstream proposition.

Not that I'd want a chip in my arm, but for background info.  I'm still hashing out the last two sections of my story.  I'm setting the novel in England, most of it happens in Guildford where I used to live, with some parts in Felixstowe, on the east coast.  The virtual tour parts of those websites will be very useful.  I miss my cobbled Guildford High Street.

Another happy-making event: Delayra's signed up for NaNoWriMo!