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'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.
1. kidnap victim
2. operate on victim to remove tracking device
3. ask ransom
etc..
I'll do it for cheesy poofs.
I'm not really into conspiracy theories, and generally not very paranoid; but this really makes you think of what "Big Brother" or anyone for that matter can do to track people.
I wonder what all the future applications of this device will be? I wonder if in the future they will require known convicted felons to wear these? Just think about all the scary applications such devices can be put to.
---
Mike
I'm going to kick the next person that I see with their karma rating in their sig.
x-rays would tend to show if people had a GPS device with antennea implanted in them
"Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything" -- Josef Stalin
we're actually building a location based game you can play through a regular web browser right now, so i guess this tech will give us a bunch of NPCs?
- that guy
p.s.: first?
So where do I get my "career chip"?? :-P
"Consider how lucky you are that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far
Interesting how this is posted hours after How to Fake a Hard Day at the Office [/.]. Just when we thought we had outsmarted them...
I'll take it, but only with an extension module: I want to run my own webserver inside myself. Must be a chilling experience to personally get DoSed.
All those folk with a cell phone?? You allready have one of these, no need to fret. Just have 3 base stations sent pings to your phone, triangulate position, and big brother will be there shortly. Oh, your phone is not turned on? Sok, no need for it to be on. This type of device continues to become more popular, and the amount of power that goes into the hands of people who control this is amazing. Just because its in the terms of service that they will not release this information, how much would it take for someone who REALLY wanted to find you to go see a low level tech @ the cell phone place, pay a bit of $$, and whamo get your exact position and heading. The age of privacy has been over for a long time, people are just waking up too it.
No I didnt spell check this post...
when the US may reduce non-military GPS accuracy?
0 24 7&mode=nested&tid=126&tid=103
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/03/19/034
The potential for abuse is more terrifying, really.
If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
Military? Are you saying the alien abductions and implants left in the abductees are connected to secret programs run by the US Military? Using timeshared UFO technology? That's ridiculous, Mulder.
Captain Picard: Computer, where is Commander Data?
Computer: Lieutenant Commander Data is no longer aboard the Enterprise.
We were frantically patching our beloved systems for Y2K compatibility crap, faithfully taking backups and all - the most frequently asked qn. was:
Will this work on Jan 1st 2000?
After a while, things got so paranoid, and my boss wondered innocently:
Are you sure we'll be alive on Jan 1st? Our hearts and brains are Y2K OK?
Made us all laugh then.. but if these GPS pacemakers were around, we wouldn't have been laughing surely.
If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
...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.
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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.
finding where grandma wandered off to!
...vividly encapsulates that post-Watergate/pre-punk/coked-up moment when you could trust no one, least of all yourself.
For fellow geeks with P800s, just put it in "flight mode" for the same effect.
"I could super-impose an RF signal on the telephone line that would "jump" or "short" out the hook switch on the phone effectively creating an off-hook condition" has precisely bog-all to do with modern GSM digital handsets.
Also, any site with a cute .gif button mentioning "The Ark of the Covenant: against Satan New World Order" probably isn't exactly a technical journal, dig?
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.
zWhat would an EWOULDBLOCK block, if an EWOULDBLOCK could block would? -- me
So they're not going to be implanting these while you're not looking, unless they can also talk you into recharging it yourself later.
The overall ickiness of having something inserted, plus of course the overtones of nazi tatoos will stop this being mandatory for a very very long time.
It's the biometric id cards/credit cards/mobile phones that'll be the really useful peasant-tracking devices. They don't need RFID implants.
Besides - there'd only be a market in back-street surgeons/hackers to take them out again. This wouldn't be a terribly effective way of tracking criminal types (it would be fine for ordinary citizens of course, but then they're easy enough to find at the moment anyway).
I would like a little more proof that this was intended to be racist. The obvious intent is to identify tracking children and pets as a use.
One of the major problems I have with accusations of racism is that behavior frequently is assumed to be racist without any investigation. To illustrate, a few years ago a news program covered racial sensitivity training that a resturant chain was ungoing as part of a court settlement. Cashiers were told to always place the change in the hand of the customer, never on the counter. Because many blacks interpret putting the money on the counter as meaning "you don't want to touch them." This hit me directly, because I have a habit of putting it on the counter regardless of whether the person is white, black, or other. Mainly because I found it easier. So the question becomes how many people thought I was racist, for doing something that I do to everyone. My futher thought is, I want more proof that things are racist before believing so. Racism exists, but not every innocent act is racist.
Well, if you were to make it out of a thin, soft plastic material, and make the wires extremely thin, it wouldn't show up on x-ray. it would, however show up on ultrasound.
GAAH! MY PRINTER IS ON FIRE!!! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!
What the hell is a "high-risk" country and why would they want such device?
Many devices do not show up as completely x-ray opaque
True, but you'd be hard pressed to create an electronic device that would not show up in an MRI. Any metal at all would create field distortion--and the plastic parts of the device would show up in the field as different from surrounding tissue.
Also, I don't think these would be undetectable by PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scanners--they find everything, including that chewing gum you swallowed a few months ago...
Q: "Why do sound techs say 'check 1, 2'?"
A: "Cause if they could count any higher they'd be lighting techs."
- [...] 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"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.
yes, we have no bananas
Submit to the chip, join The Club - or live on the outside. Very scary.
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.
It has probably been posted on Slashdot before (and been thoroughly pooh-poohed), but "Digital Angel" sounds an awful lot like the "Digital Demon" mentioned in Revelation chapter 13, the "Mark of the Beast" (666). In Rev. 13, everyone is required to get a mark before they can buy or sell.
It seems odd that John would come up with the idea that you would have to have a mark (I'm told it means "etching, as with a needle" in the Greek, but I'm sure some Greek-speaking-geek here can probably shoot that down if it isn't correct) to buy and sell. I'm sure he was thinking of it as a tatoo that they would merely look at, before allowing you to use your cash. He probably wasn't thinking of a "cashless society", but I've often heard people talk about the benefits of a cashless society (thwart drug-dealers, kidnappers, extortion rings, etc). Supposedly, we'd all start with a "debit card" arrangement. But they could be stolen or forged. An implanted chip would be harder to fake.
As a starting point to mandatory chipping, I've heard people suggest that you would chip criminals, aliens, and of course, "the scum of the earth".... gun owners! If you want to own a gun, you must get a tracking chip! Small price to pay for a "privilege" that the government lets you have...
I'm not saying that D.A. would be the Mark, just that it sounds hauntingly familiar... that similar technology could be used for that purpose.
So most readers here probably don't read or believe the Bible, but if you see it happen someday..... think about it.
dochood
I want an interface. If I get lost, I want to be able to use it. I'm not interested if Joe Schmoe can find me if I can't find myself...
Then again, it would be a great device for tracking the elderly when they wander off in a fog. I have an ancient and venerable mother whose hippocampus and therefore her ability to process short-term memory is "flambayed".
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Frightened? Just think how effective we could fight terrorism! Every person in the US could be tracked, we could see who they meet and if they're sleeping, working maybe, in the future, what they're talking about. Of course, only criminals who have something to hide would fear this prospect.
Yes a device like that is frightening, especially in the hand of a totalitarian regime like the United States' government.
(Yes, mod me down... I know there are regimes where I couldn't say something like that without risking my life and I'm grateful I can still say that. But the US government do put people in jail without accusing them properly, they torture people outside the country, etc. Just say a person is a suspected terrorist and he automatically loses all human rights. I can still say I disapprove of that. But I'm afraid it's slowly becoming like the USSR in Stalin's times...)
I don't need a signature.
If you had the choice between being in jail and undergoing an operation that would let you get out, which would you choose?
I'm not sure that they would use this with criminals anyway. It would seem more secure to me to add it externally with a lock for criminals. Internally, it seems to me that they would just get another operation and have it removed.
Cool use: Ability to keep track of your girlfriend/boyfriend/significant other.
Frightening abuse: Your girlfriend/boyfriend/significant other keeping track of you.
[insert witty quote here]
What does internal rechargable mean? You don't have to take it out to recharge it? Where do you plug in the power cord at night? ::shudder as goatse image jumpes into head::
I know your post was to be funny but the article says that "The induction-based power-recharging method is similar to that used to recharge implantable pacemakers. This recharging technique functions without requiring any physical connection between the power source and the implant."
Just in case you actually DID wonder. This means that you dont have to get pysical with your mechanical goat just yet, and if you decide to be anyway, please dont let me know....
True ravers don't need drugs
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?
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
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.
"First lesson," Jon said. "Stick them with the pointy end."
The Patriot Implant by Halliburton. Only terrorists refuse them.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
perfect for ex-cons
ex-cons are exactly that. Ex. They have served their debt, and are now able to resume (more or less) regular lives.
Why would you need to track them?
Something embedded transmitting vital signs and GPS will use a reasonable amount of power. Batteries can't hack it because rechargeables need replacement after one to two years. Its no problem if it is something to help you live (i.e., a pacemaker), otherwise would you really want the thing replaced so often?
Personally, I think this is just a project to get Homeland Insecurity money and VC funding.
See my journal, I write things there
SkyBitz, a Virginia company, has developed a similar device a few years ago. Last I've heard (late 2000), they've been in talks with the Pentagon to get this device implanted into all soldiers, for more precise command and control.
"I've fallen and I can't get up"
Seriously; the health monitoring industry isn't that small. What if you could implant a device in your alzheimers patient grandfather, so he couldn't forget to put it on, and you could always find him if he wandered away, and an instant 911 call went out if he started having an irregular heartbeat, crazy blood pressure, etc.
I think this thing has some SERIOUSLY good potential uses. But as typical on slashdot, every technology is only seen in the most paranoid possible way. Hey, it's a good idea to think of how new technologies can be abused, but get real; the mere existance of this technology does not immediately create a police state in which everyone can be forced to have the chip implanted. It's society that decides whether such a thing can happen to law-abiding citizens (and yes, who is defined as "law-abiding").
Technology is neither good nor bad, nor does it promote good or bad behavior. It may enable a behavior but it does not, on its own, immediately cause a police state or any other societal change, unless and until society is ready to change.
Non-law-abiding citizens already have this, it's called a radio collar.
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
A worried crowd gathers on Main Street:
Dr. Watson here! Make way people... out of the way... I'm a doctor! Turn him over and let me look at him. MY GOD!!! Look at his skin color. This man's has a pacemaker BSOD! Quick, shove that LILO floppy down his throat while I hold his mouth open!
Cleaning out horse stables? It seems to come naturally to me after being laid off from the Trustworthy Computing Project...
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced. - Geek's corollary to Clarke's law
I just had this thought: Yes, government use of an implantable tracking device has a lot of implications for infringing on my privacy. But it also has substantial non-infringing uses.
...
And then my head began to hurt. It has always fascinated me how some technologies are vilified BECAUSE of their potential for abuse, whereas others are idolized DESPITE their potential for abuse. Which is right? I don't have the answer, but I do know its fun to watch.
And no, I'm not suggesting that Big Brother watching my every move is in any way equivalent to me downloading the latest Britney Spears via p2p. Although if I'm listening to Ms. Spears, maybe someone SHOULD keep an eye on me
Hi!
We explored the issues involved with tracking humans for a client a couple of years ago. Bottom line: you can only track humans who a) know they are being tracked, and b) are willing to participate. The converse is true: you cannot track someone who is not willing to participate.
The crucial point is this: it is possible to do field trials with willing subjects, to demonstrate the feasibility of receiving signals. However--it is child's play to defeat the system. And a tracking system that can be defeated is substantially worse than no system at all.
How GPS works
Most geeks understand the idea behind GPS, in the sense of determining position based on comparing the time signatures broadcast from multiple satellites. What many people don't realize is how low the signal strength actually is: it's actually not much stronger than background radiation. GPS works because DSPs can dig the signals out of that background radiation and get the data. Key point: Very Weak Signal.
Result: It's easy to defeat
Because the GPS signal is so weak, you lose GPS lock (the ability to receive signals from enough satellites) all the time. You lose it going into practically any building; you lose it in tunnels; you can frequently lose it in urban areas (like Manhattan). As a consequence, GPS chipsets simply store (and report) their last known good position. That's usually a good thing. If you're tracking a convict, it could be a very bad thing.
A very bad thing: here's why
A while ago we were contacted by a government official with a specific challenge: in the official's words, "In 40% of all homicides the victim has an outstanding Protection From Abuse order against her attacker." I don't know how accurate that figure is--but it's a compelling number. What the official wanted to do was put a GPS tracking device on people (99% men) with current PFA orders. Great idea!
Except...it is brutally easy to defeat the GPS tracker. Just wrap the device with aluminum foil--or simply cover the GPS antenna with aluminum foil. The GPS unit will simply lose lock--and keep recording your position as the last known good (LKG) position. You can then travel across town, secure in the knowledge that the device cannot report your actual location and warn your ex-wife. And after you've successfully beaten her to death, you'll be able to present the county's own data to demonstrate that while the crime was in progress you were at home--because the GPS unit thinks you're still at the LKG point.
Bottom line:
Great idea. (And I'll elaborate in another message.) But not a viable idea for tracking perps.