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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
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?
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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.
...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.
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?
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.
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]
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?
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.