'Pacemaker'-like GPS Device for Humans

LunarFox writes "Applied Digital Solutions has announced successful field trials of a prototype GPS device that can be implanted into humans. The device, which is internally rechargable, can wirelessly transmit location, movements and vital signs via the Internet, storing the info in a database. It's said to be the size of a pacemaker, but they intend to miniaturize it to one-tenth that size. You may recall this company as having designed the 'Digital Angel,' and 'Verichip,' a ricegrain-sized RFID chip like injectable pet tracking ID chips. This same company apparently made several denials in 2002 that their product(s) would be anything but externally worn. (like a wristwatch) Many other related links can be found at WorldNetDaily." On one hand the potential cool uses astound me, while the possibilty of abuse frightens me. A lot.

Comments

BigBrother

[Anonymous Coward]

great. just what i always wanted. soon companies will make it manditory to where these devices in the offices. Then acces to areas could obviously be much easier(computer knows that one is at a door and checks to see if you are allowed in/out and then only unlocks) but they can also monitor you movements. eg how many smokebreaks you take, how long you stay at your desk etc.

Re:BigBrother

[glesga_kiss]

Where have you been for the last five years? Do you work in an office with key-less ID cards for access anywhere?

If you do, you already have this sort of thing. Sure, you need to hold the card 6 inches from the panel for it to open the door, however it can register the presence of a card over a much longer distance. So, that ID badge you already carry could be doing just this sort of thing. It all depends on how the system was configured.

But, this isn't all that new anyway. Mobile phones have been able to do similar things for quite some time. Take this high profile rape case in the UK, where a couple were cleared of criminal charges using mobile phone location evidence.

Hell, while we are talking about the complete loss of privacy in todays society, I might as well throw in this link to an official European Union report into the routine monitoring of the internet and telephone networks by Echelon.

This new thing isn't anything to fear. You should be scared already.

Re:You might call me paranoid...

[Anonymous Coward]

You can't be too sure. Many devices do not show up as completely x-ray opaque, and if placed in an appropriate position in the ends of major bones with well shaped antenna would be quite invisible to x-rays. Indeed they may be able to extract power from them. Also many people have tooth fillings which can be used to hide just about anything, not to mention the complexity of the skull bones around a nasal cavity. Do you know your own well enough to be certain of what it SHOULD look like?

You've got to wonder...

[gusnz]

...how the company sees this in terms of immediate practical applications.

I could understand if this was one of those long-sighted DARPA projects that hails from an unlimited budget and a mandate to invent, but a company like this has shareholders to whom they must justify their actions. So what's the immediate market for this device? Even with the "War On Terrah" progressing at a rapid pace, I can't see implanted GPS's being compulsory anytime soon.

So who's got ideas for the potential use/market for these devices? Paranoid parents wanting to know their children's location at all times? A replacement for medic-alert type bracelets or similar? I somehow can't see this returning on its initial investment in terms of sales, given the risks associated with anaesthetics/implantation in non-subcutaneous tissues weighed against such a trivial funcionality gain.

Mapping

[GreggyBUIUC]

Of course, obvious privacy comments aside, this would be interesting in coordination with this old slashdot article which called for real time map generation by having volunteers wear GPS devices. A system like this would be allow planners to construct reliable road and interstate systems based on actual volume of traffic instead of estimates.

This approach is being used ...

[zonix]

Just have 3 base stations sent pings to your phone, triangulate position, and big brother will be there shortly.

This approach is actually being used by some telephone companies here in Denmark. They can track you, and when you're at home they'll give you a low minute rate.

z

Uh... High-Risk Countries???

[samdu]

From the site

the Company announced that it was accelerating development of PLD in response to demand from high-risk countries and other potential customers.

What the hell is a "high-risk" country and why would they want such device?

Via the internet!

[the bluebrain]

From the writeup:

• [...] can wirelessly transmit location, movements and vital signs via the Internet, storing the info in a database.

Sorry, but that sounds like one of these post-modern patent applications. "Via the internet" ... wooo-hoo!
I hardly think anyone's building a device a tenth of the size of a pacemaker that will continuously transmit "ASL"-data (or whatever) to a satellite, or even the cell phone network. Bluetooth, WLAN, whatever, yea, but I don't expect to see anyone being tracked across the Austalian outback with one of these anytime soon.

As for the plus side:
Finally - a rational use for that aluminium foil beanie. Now *that's* newsForNerds/stuffThatMatters.

Re:kidnapping of the future:

[will_die]

Kidnapping of the future as the same problems of current kidnapping, and why kidnapping in the US is basicly a dead crime. How do you collect the money and get away.
Where it could be really usful is with carjacking, since they are so small could contain thier own power, you can stick large amounts of them in a vehicle.

Wildlife?

[ianscot]

Field researchers have tons of tracking applications, and they're always using transmitters in awkward collars and so on. Not having the thing on the surface where it can get bashed around by the hard lives animals lead (and interfere with their range of motion and so on) might be an advantage?

There Is at least one already...

[danro]

You can view this really cool hack here.

This guy has his GPS cellphone periodically sending a single UDP package with his coordinates to his server, that builds a http-GET you can click to locate him on MapQuest.
Pretty neat.

Re:Hello people, wake up

[Agent Green]

First of all, triangulation is a hell of a lot more difficult than you think...hence the reason for the FCC mandate that GPS be implemented in all phones. Consider how your favorite radio station gets stronger at some points than others...and then consider the higher frequency that cell phones operate on. At best, you can guess where the phone may be by looking at the signal strengths from various towers, but that's not something that some cube monkey can just feel like pulling up in a browser...you would need actual radio foxhunting skills to pinpoint the location of the phone.

I have an old-ass StarTac without any of these fancy GPS features, and I intend on keeping it that way. Having used 911 a small number of times on this phone has required me to give a very detailed description of where I was...no GPS baby!

Of course, if you want more anonymous location without the monthly bills...get yourself a ham radio license and go that route...and you'll get to use up to 1500 watts PEP on most bands. ;)

Great solution for pedophiles !!

[Macka]

In the UK, convicted pedophiles are held on a nation wide sex register for life. When ever they move town they have to register their whereabouts with the police. Despite this, many of them re-offend and the cost is sometimes a childs life and devastated family/community.

So it strikes me that this would be a great help in the battle against habitual pedophiles. If on release from prison they were legally chipped and their location tracked 24hrs, then the incidents of death by re-offenders should drop dramatically.

And yeah I know, its a breach of human rights, blah blah. But IMO, anyone who sexually violates a child for their own gratification forfeits their claim to the rights that the rest of us enjoy. And there are millions of parents all over the world who'd sleep better at night.

Macka

Re:Not necessarily without their permission

[mdielmann]

You're thinking of the hard way.

If they implanted it, one of the conditions would be that you check in, where they could verify that it was still implanted, using one mechanism or other.

If you remove it, you either have to run or show up and fail the GPS placement test. So you're caught, with some lead time. So we can't do that.

If you shield it all the time, they are going to throw you back in the clink. So you're caught, maybe with lots of lead time.

If you shield intermittently, they are going to send someone to look for you whenever you fall off their map. If they think you're abusing the system, you end up back in jail. So you're caught maybe with no lead time.

I think the best bet would be to weaken the battery so that it retains less charge, giving you some 'free time' before you have to go back to your induction mat, or a way to burn out the induction charge system in the GPS, causing the whole unit to fail after charge is depleted. It leaves you with total innocence - "What!?! I didn't know walking under those high-voltage lines would kill my unit. They're on my way to work - I have to pass them." And if they start talking about replacing it numerous times, you'll have all sorts of human rights groups up in arms about cruel and unusual punishment (if the constitution is still in place in the US). That could take it to the point where they can't require it as a condition of parole, which puts us back where we are today, which sounds better than that dark world...