Paying for your goods on the tick

Time to go shopping: How your watch could replace your wallet for purchases under £15

New high-tech watch contains chip that allows you to settle payments by tapping it at the till
The £99 gadget can be used at 70,000 shops in the UK

So here we have another step towards the hideous cashless society. The statists dream where our every move is tracked through our electronic transactions and our obedience guaranteed by the threat of cutting off our payment chip.

And that's not just my tinfoil hattery coming out.

A survey of major retailers by online payments firm PayPal last week even suggested that children born today will be the first cashless generation.

See? So what about this new gadget then?

If you hate rummaging for change when you’re ordering that morning coffee, help is at hand... or thereabouts.
Today sees the UK launch of a range of hi-tech watches that can pay for a double-shot espresso, a newspaper or a host of other small purchases with a flick of the wrist.
They contain a chip similar to a mobile phone’s SIM card that allows you to settle up by tapping the watch on a special terminal at the till.
Rather than debiting your bank account, they can only spend the money you have topped it up with online – and if the watch is lost or stolen, your account can be cancelled on the phone or over the web.

Is fumbling for change really such a bind that you must spend £99 on a gadget that will save you a few seconds at a till? Have we become such a lazy society? And what do you give away in exchange for those few seconds? Even your smallest purchases will now be electronically trackable; your lifestyle habits will be open to scrutiny from interested parties. Even your movements will be traceable.

The ultimate goal for governments is to do away with cash altogether. Cash, as the last remaining bearer bond, is untraceable. Transactions paid in cash cannot be taxed. People who use cash cannot have their purchases traced. Gadgets like this serve to help make electronic transactions appear more normal.
Debit and credit cards are still to fiddly and take to long to be a viable alternative to cash. If we are eventually going to move to the electronic chip under the skin, we need something like this to normalise the process and bridge the gap. When done, all transactions will be taxed at source, providing complete tax compliance. Paint your mates shed for a tenner? The government takes its cut.

Your movements will also be tracked continuously. Made a purchase in the vicinity of a serious crime? Report to your nearest police station for a DNA test. Refuse to report? Your chip is turned off and you are unable to buy anything until you comply.

Ok, I am descending into conspiracies here but I do believe that a cashless society is the endgame. But on a lighter note.

MasterCard, which has teamed up with watchmaker LAKS for the project, said its devices could help people to stick to a budget, as there is no overdraft facility, or be used to give children their pocket money. ‘You could use it for your child’s pocket money, or go out for a jog and buy some water without taking your phone out.

What an excellent way to teach children that money has no real substance; that it is created out of thin air at the touch of a magic button.

A spokesman said: ‘We think it will be popular because it takes out the fumble factor – you don’t have to rummage through your pockets to find it.

You don't have to fumble through you pockets for cash. You just pop your hand in your cash pocket and pull out a wad. If you're too lazy to do that though....

Some experts believe that cash could become obsolete within a few years, as so-called ‘tap and go’ technology becomes more widespread and more people use their phones to make purchases, leaving their notes and coins behind.

Yes, that's my worry too. I don't mind if more people choose to use electronic means, but I still want to use cash.

It can't break down, it can't be taxed and it can't be traced. Just the way I like it.