Nanotechnology can be described as technology that is designed to work at the nano-, or molecular level. It is a rapidly developing field of technology that both very promising and dangerous. It has huge implications in various areas of study like medicine and manufacturing. However, it also has the potential to make tracking much easier.

A Borg Nanoprobe from Star Trek: Voyager
Source: memory-alpha.org

One of the biggest issues concerning nanotechnology and tracking would be the invention of some device similar to Borg nanoprobes, microscopic machines that could be inserted into a human. In terms of medicine, this would be incredibly helpful, because the probes could keep track of the overall health of the person they inhabit. They could track information such as blood pressure, cholesterol levels, possible tumorous growths, or blood sugar levels. However, this has a downside because it would also enable the person receiving the information to access information such as what foods the person intakes, what drugs are in their system, and whether or not the person smokes. Information of this type is clearly personal, but with nanotechnology, it becomes possible for anyone who knows how to access the information that the probes monitor.

One other aspect of the concept of a nanoprobe is that it might act in a similar way that microchipping pets works, except the gps data could be collected in real time, and unlike a cell phone, it’s hard to turn a robot of that size off. If it is implemented in this manner, then government could actively track every one of it’s citizens, and they would have no idea that they are being followed.

In terms of tracking, nanotechnology opens up some new and potentially dangerous means of watching a population. While internet and cell phone tracking follows what a person looks at, what they like, and where they are, tracking via nanotechnology could actively monitor behavior and what food and drugs we consume. This would effectively allow them to monitor everything about us, completely eliminating any privacy we might have once enjoyed. While it is not a reality as of yet, with the rate that technology is advancing, the creation of a nanoprobe, or similar device, is so far-fetched anymore.