July 3, 2001

9:19 AM

The government is tracking your movements by using metal detectors and store security devices to scan anti-counterfeit threads woven into your money. Fiction or Fact
posted by willnot (7 comments total)

Um, why would the government care the you were carrying money that isn't counterfeit. Much ado about nothing.
posted by jpoulos at 10:11 AM on July 3, 2001

Trackable money could conceivably be used as evidence in a trial, if it was used as part of an illegal act. So for example, if a bill with a given ID was known to be in your possession, and then you used the bill to buy drugs, and the bill was then recovered from the drug dealer, you'd be busted.

I could probably come up with other uses if I thought about it, none of them really comforting.
posted by RylandDotNet at 12:02 PM on July 3, 2001

You know what ZD Net needs?
That's right, bigger ads.
posted by dong_resin at 12:30 PM on July 3, 2001

Er... that's pretty much impossible, Ryland -- the money could have changed hands ten times before reaching the dealer. Unless: "hold on son, I'll pay you for mowing the lawn, but first I have to register this fund transfer in the government database." And if this were the case, why bother to have paper money at all?

All of this worrying just sounds like run-of-the-mill right-wing one-world-government paranoia-propaganda. Business as usual on Metafilter.
posted by tweebiscuit at 1:36 PM on July 3, 2001

Hmmmm. Suppose I smash all my dollar bills with a big ball-peen hammer. BANG BANG BANG.

Damn, I wonder if the little Hitachi chip will survive.

What if I accidently microwave it while I'm drying the sweat outta my wallet?

Track that, you suckers.

"Sorry, sir, your dollar bill seems to be invalid. We can't accept it. I know, there's a bank right down the corner where you can get a good one. Then you come right back here and you can have your valiums."
posted by Twang at 2:53 PM on July 3, 2001

I allready track some of my money
posted by stbalbach at 5:26 PM on July 3, 2001

If you use bank machines and credit cards and your car has license plates and you're listed in the phone book, you already leave a fairly complete record of your travels for almost anyone to discover. Not that anyone on earth cares who or where you are. But if someone cared, they would know.

> All of this worrying just sounds like run-of-the-mill
> right-wing one-world-government paranoia-propaganda.
> Business as usual on Metafilter.

Now you're in for it. Kofi Anan is coming for you at midnight in a black UN helicopter. And don't try to hide, because he knows where your money is.
posted by pracowity at 11:24 PM on July 3, 2001