These microchips COULD be used well for several different reasons.......to be able to track and locate diplomats, intelligence agents, criminals, the elderly and infirm, perhaps even the very wealthy and their children as a protection in case of abduction.
In a way, I could see the benefits.
However, to implant the whole population from birth, even though it could become a reality as FrankC says,
is somehow too Orwellian to me.
A rise of fascism anywhere in the world would make the carriers of this chip at risk for their life and limb and would be the end of their natural born freedom.
We'd also become automatons.

If they had transponders built into them, then people could be electronically disabled from a distance, or at the very least, disoriented and harassed if they were deemed undesirable. There are too many downsides to the technolgy as well.

I agree with Tom that the Digital Angel is pretty scary.
There will be a massive uprise against it as Christians see it as the "Mark of the Beast", which was written about in the Bible, that you will need to carry the "mark" in order to eat or trade goods.