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RFID Hell
Matrix2110 writes "Finally, somebody has stepped up with an article that descibes the potental abuse of RFID. Imagine being flagged for social tendencies.
Gattaca is not so far off as we think. it is simply a pass of a wand for your embedded tag rather than a drop of blood."
The device described in the article is a GPS device worn on the ankle combined with a cell phone. It's an active device, unlike RFID which is usually passive and concealed.
This reminds me of the Brass Eye Paedophile Special that was on a couple of years back. They really are going to ridiculous measures to stop what is barely a threat. Unfortunately the importance of stopping the 'evil pedos' has been heightened by mass hysteria.
Remember, paedophiles are people too. Not some crazed monster prey on little children night and day.
This has ZERO to do with RFIDs or anything remotely similar to RFIDs. This is a combination ankle bracelet and cell phone and uses GPS.
Infuriate left and right
IIRC the technology in Gattaca presented a good use. Perhaps not the best example movie?
I'd really like to think that the people running our state wouldn't sink to this level. But the USA Patriot Act kind of disabused me of that notion. I'm offering donations for anyone who can make a device that will disable all RFID tags within a 50 foot radius.
why fight it, enjoy life while you can.. We have fully qualified & competant people running the country, George Bush, John "Super Hero" Ashcroft, Donald Rumsfeld, years of experience has taught these people well... Remember George Bush took a stand against human cloning and stem cell lines, we're in good hands.
Chill people, its all good..
Vote GWB 2004 !!
Frea of the potential abuses of technology are as old as technology itself. I'm sure the first fire starters were considered sorcerers who would bring the wrath of the gods on your village if they were unhappy (i.e. burn it down at midnight).
Technology is netural, people use it and abuse it, but it does not take an RFID tag to make a man a monster.
Ceci n'est pas une signature
Support your selected President in your actions and your thoughts or we'll know about it.
Its really about the UK employing technology to track pedophiles that has been used for some time in the US. Granted the parallels to RFID are there, but the bigger issue is whether one can be tagged after being convicted and serving a sentence. The laws in the US have flip-flopped on this one several times, generally the only time this sort of monitoring holds up is when it is a part of the original conviction of the criminal. Therefore, there are some precedents for electronic monitoring, the real question is whether they will apply once the private sector faces legal challenges regarding the use of RFID to track innocent people.
Children in the backseats don't cause accidents. Accidents in the back seats cause children.
'Because it tracks where they go every day it would mean they would not have to be picked up every time there is an offence committed,' Wyre said.
This logically implies that unregistered "sex offenders" WILL be picked on every time there is an offence committed, most likely before any serious researching is done.
So when this is extended beyond known offenders that means it will be YOU being tracked, your every move logged.
OK, I understand the point of this challenge. However, when talking about pedophiles, this quote is wrong:
'This is more likely to make them feel alienated. Once released they should be made to feel a normal member of the community.'
As normal as anyone who sodomizes little kids should feel. How about their victims? I bet they don't feel normal anymore, nor will they ever. Why should the victimizer have more rights than the victim?
ToTal Democratic Patriotic Protection Act
They started with the paedophile and it was OK because those are law breaker.
Then they went on murder condemned and It was also OK.
Then they went on tagging all former felon. Ok those were bad people anyway.
Then they tagged people with bad social past and juvenil arrest since those were the one with the highiest chance to re-iterate a crime.
. Then they tagged immigrant and it was also OK, because those bastard are not like us.
Then they tagged people belonging to certain religion "because they might be potential terrorist".
When they came to tag me I was the only one left in the neighbourhood without a tag...
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
which amass an enormous amount of information is information overload.
that either leads to a lot of false positive or false negative "hits".
kinda like searching google for a specific porno image.
i'll start being scared that someone solved that problem the day i can find a specific porno file using google.
The article was about the UK, and had nothing to do with RFID technologies.
Please leave your paranoid US-centric hysteria elsewhere. Thanks.
What's good about that?
Warning: Opinions known to be heavily biased.
You should read the articles before posting knee-jerk reactions here.
+5 Funny, this is slashdot and it is hysterical that the parent actually expects his advice to happen. Tin foil hat knne-jerk anti-MS anti-US posts are the norm.
Not nearly as bad as it first sounded. Yes, it is a first step and can be a proof of consept, but so long as it is restricted to people on probation as stated, then it's not so bad. With probation you are not free, you are simply watched outside of jail. Perhaps a slipery slope but it also provides protection for the person as well. Cops picking people up and 'leaning on them' is more tipical in movies then in real life, but it does happen. This would give the person the proof they need to show it realy did happen. If it works as clamed then it should only be a few years till it's used with all people on probation and could help both sides quite a bit.
Question reality.
Finally, somebody has stepped up with an article that descibes the potental abuse of RFID.
If you want to see stuff actually pertaining to RFID.. all you have to do is google.
here
Or here
Gattaca was about genetic manipulation, not GPS, RFID, or anything in that realm.
This technology has its place. All of you wonderful panick stricken people about the Patriot act must remember the Patriot Act puts forth the ground rules we can play by. I assure you the Terrorist are not playing by any rules, and are quite willing to take you most valuable right from you. The one right that you must have to enjoy liberty. The right is the right to breath. Have some perspective work to create the necessary checks and balances--then chill out.
The already abused their rights by violating someone elses. Worse was the nature of their crimes. So, I am supposed to feel scared because the government is employing know technology to keep an eye on these "people"?
This also looks like a mechanism to get some people out of incarceration earlier - albeit with a leash. It has been show that sex offenders are notorious for lapseing back, so why not "just check"?
Frankly, these perverts are lucky they have any freedom. No society can exist where people like this can prey on the young with impunity.
What is more disgusting is the so called "civil liberty" groups who try to make out these law breakers as the victim. This is a big problem in the states and obviously its elsewhere.
Concern about well being of a fellow human is fine, allowing it to cloud your judgement isn't.
PS: There ain't jack about RFIDs in this story.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
I wonder how many paedophile MPs will volunteer for this?
Run and catch, run and catch, the lamb is caught in the blackberry patch.
One often sees technology being used to combat the symptoms of a problem. But fixing the symptom does not equal a cure.
Why do we have child molesters in the first place is the question that should be asked IMHO. Is it the oversexed society we live in? The furstration of men (it allways seems to be men) who can not deal with grown up relationships? Or is it our reduced tolerance towards such things?
Do not forget, not very far in the past it was quite normal to marry a teenager if the dowry/match/social status was interesting...
Im not saying that we should not care about child abuse. It is horrible crime and it must be eradicated. I just wonder whether we are dealing with it in the right way...
Complexity is a measure of our ignorance...
Theres already quite a few options for tracking in an emergency - mobile phones, credit cards, license plates, pay-phones etc. but they all depend on the person using those things. RFID tags would be another thing on that list but it would be much harder to avoid them - you would have to cut them out of clothes and buy things anonymously and if you did have a tag on you that could be linked to you then you would have to avoid all shops and anyone with a portable tag scanner which would be even harder.
The technology is there to plant hidden tags on people so potentially anyone, or any government agency (legally or not) could plant these tags without peoples knowledge and make sure scanners are distributed around the place - so basically everyones screwed. Using a GPS system like this will give you more coverage but its much harder to hide so you have to tell the person they are being tracked and that if they try and remove it you'll be there in 2mins (well actually i doubt very much that the link is live 24/7 so if you did rip it off and smash the phone you would have a decent amount of time to get the hell out of there).
RFID tags would be cool aslong as their are strict laws against tracking people and once you are out of the shop you are legally free to remove and destroy the chip (they should indicate where it is and how to remove it without damaging goods). While this makes it pretty pointless as an anti-shoplifting device it has to be done. Also they should (under the data-protection act etc) have to remove the serial number from their database. If your not paranoid then RFID tags would be useful for finding all those lost pens and the tv remote and letting your fridge track what you put in and its use-by-date and all that stuff.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
Tags worn by criminals that actually prevents them from commiting crime by inflicting pain if they attempt to visit certain areas.
Of course this is all a bit Clockwork Orange like and would never be allowed.
As touched on above the tracking devices in use within the Unites States are used as an alternative to incarceration, not as a tracking device *after* a sentence is served. We worry about the infringement of rights perpetrated on the convicted but fail to realize that while in prison these individuals are subject to far more oppression than governmental oversight. I can assure you that while serving time within the walls of a correctional facility the precept of "tracking" inmates would not raise the first hackle on even the most liberal neck. Instead, release the inmate prior to the completion of his/her sentence and implement an oversight mechanism and - viola! we have rights violations. It is curtailing illusory freedom that frightens us. It was mentioned in the article that this "blurs the line between guilt and innocence" - I would think the real psychological struggle is contained in blurring the lines between freedom and incarceration...
we need sarcasm +5 here
fuck GWB for good
If you consider the facts - I mean real facts from reality and not imaginations from scifi movies like Gattaca - then you have to conclude that RFID tag provide huge benefits for people and economy. Take some examples:
- RFID tags can be used for health, care and security protection and will enables us to fight problems like illnesses, crime and terrorism.
- RFID tags provide a huge range of new marketing and service opportunities.
- RFID tags can create new immersive environments increasing life quality at home and productiness at work.
- RFID tags will help to protect the enviroment
by enabling intelligent recycling, garbage disposal and reduing resource consumption thus preserving the creation given to us by the Lord for use.
This list can obviously enlarged by much more applications.So if you use your brain instead of irrationally technology fear then you will indeed conclude that RFIDs are essential for our future and therefore we should propagate their use instead of spreading the fear propaganda originating from some interested fundamentalist groups.
Owner of a Mensa membership card.
Now you're getting into the old discussion of whether technology can be good or evil, or whether it's always neutral.
On a personal note, I do think that technology is indeed neutral, only its uses can be good or bad. However, regardless of how many good uses there would be to determining someone's exact identity from DNA (crime solving, etc), Gattaca was an example of how this technology can be abused. Determining your genetic risks for certain diseases can also be good, if used to help prevent you from getting that disease, but when it's used for profiling, it's not. The movie used it for profiling.
So where's the problem with RFID tags and the such, and Gattaca-like DNA technology? Can you really trust that it'll be used properly? Or are we better off not risking our freedom and living without any benefits said technlogy may offer? That's a hard question, and I won't even bother offering my opinion on it.
Warning: Opinions known to be heavily biased.
lol, so true.
Paedophiles and rapists have the highest recidivism rate among any class of criminal.
I have a better solution. Execution, however the white one's will get life while the darker colored individuals will get executed.
Our justice system is sad.
- 'To be able to have "Talk down" with an offender because he is in a high-risk area and likely to offend is the single most effective control measure that be applied,' Crosby added
IOW, pedophiles that don't want to offend again, but feel they may be tempted in some situations can be given a optional program where assistance is available to help them control their "urge".This is called "rehabilitation", a concept that seems regretably foreign to the Department of Corrections.
Even more surprising, it saves money:
- Wyre said the new technology was far cheaper than the current tagging devices used to enforce curfews and probation orders which costs around 500 per offender each month.
So, everyone either a) don't read the article, b) misunderstand what it says, c) misrepresent the technology used and then condemn a pilot program that is trying to help pedophiles help themselves with lower cost to the taxpayer and lower risk to the community at large. After all, this isHello All
..
You have to remember that members of the British government have wet dreams about using technology for social control but being a bunch of ex-barristers and journalists don't have a clue about technology.
This of course means they are ripe for being sold either non-working or vapourware products especially if it is "for the children" (tm). Remember facial recognition CCTV that has been tried and proved to be total crap all over the US ? Well local governments here are still buying it.
This one is no different. I have worked on GPS related projects and can tell you 2 things
1) It eats battery power any child molester is going to have to carry a car battery on his/her back.
2) It doesn't work so well in built up areas. Anyway it will take a child molestor about 2 minutes to realise if they cover the thing with
silver foil they can stop it working.
None of this will matter of course and you can bet that millions will be spent on this.
Oh well !
AC
Seriously though there is a real point to be made in favour of violating the freedom of people that have proven not to care about the freedom or well being of others. Once an offender would be on parole their wereabouts can be monitored and correlated to the location of a crime.
Once someone has done their time should this technology be used? I think it's up to the courts to decide; 10 years in jail and life on RFID, it could be part of sentencing. It would prevent a lot of crime.
Always have to ask oneself though, hitler and stalin would have loved RFID and would have used it in ways that our legal system must prevent. Tagging people will allow a possible future dictatorship to "DELETE FROM POPULATION WHERE CHARACTERISTIC = BITMASK"
Of those to whom much is given, much is required.
The bleak future has already arrived in many ways, my friend.
With all the Gattaca talk, you've overlooked the most important thing Gattaca taught us:
Uma Thurman is a piece of a**. Even if she did marry Ethan Hawke.
------
There's a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can't get away.
DELETE FROM population WHERE CHARACTERISTIC = SEARCHBITMASK
Of those to whom much is given, much is required.
This is old news. Didn't some guy named Hawthorn write a book about this - branding a person for doing something that society doesn't like? I remember something scarlet - a letter is was.
Reading through the responses to this technology, it seems that several issues are being addressed/readdressed:
1) Mandatory tagging of criminals - There seems to be a fundamental difference between tagging someone as part of their sentence and tagging someone after their sentence has been served (eg, after release from prison). The latter seems a dangerous trend since it indicates that the punishment for certain crimes may change in an arbitrary fashion, even *after* a criminal has served their time and been "rehabilitated" by societal punishments.
Granted, some crimes are heinous and deserve drastic punishments, but punishments should be known at the time of sentencing. Make the punishment as harsh as is warranted (eg, death sentence or consecutive life sentences effectively ensures that an offender never returns to society), but once a punishment has been fulfilled , no additional arbitrary punishments should be levied. Being unable to agree on what the rule-of-law is at the time of sentencing is very bad. A rule-of-law which is not transparent and clear is not a rule-of-law.
2) RFID technology is good|bad - Anyone who has spent their life thinking about technology knows that technology itself it neither our damnation nor our savior. It is amoral and merely a tool created and used by humans to leverage our ideas.
However, history has shown that we have a penchant for killing each other over issues with no obvious resolution (eg, Who's God is better, Who's skin color is better, etc). Technology just speeds up the process of letting us work out our differences, and, when that fails, subjugate/maim/torture/kill the enemy when they it is obvious that they will not take on our point of view.
3) The posters are "anti-technologist fear mongers" - since this crowd is generally very technology savvy, it is probably more likely that you misunderstand the message being articulated. People on Slashdot certainly seem to get more worked up that your general everyday nongeek citizenry. But that is likely because of the "slippery-slope" issues that are addressed. Looking at how humans use and misuse technology to abuse each other, it is often clear to those with a background in technology what form the abuses could take. Generally, it seems that humans eventually arrive at a solution better for everyone (eg, more tolerant), but only after a more short-term period which exploits the technology to the severe disadvantage of an unfortunate minority.
BTW, although annoying that the article is not based on RFID technology, that hardly matters in the grand scheme. GPS, RFID, biometrics, DRM, etc. are all just technologies. They have amazing potential for benefit of societies. But unless the potential for human-rights abuse is acknowledged and carefully monitored, things will get very bad before things get better.
No technology is without potential for abuse. Period.
Oh wait, the article had nothing to do with RFID? I mean, of course I knew that. I was merely joking.
Lasers Controlled Games!
the story's not about RFID, it's not about "RFID Hell", and it's about a good use of technology that saves taxpayer money and allows convicted felons to be paroled so they can live more normal lives while still protecting the community.
Yeah, hit that one RIGHT ON THE HEAD, Matrix2110... Gattaca, here we come...
This kind of abuse of civil rights almost always happens with paedophiles first. Simply put, who'se going to defend a paedophile? What most people don't realize though is that legally the precedent has been established if it gets accepted for paedophiles. I don't like paedophiles, but it's not a case of whether or not I like them, it's a case of establishing precedent and avoiding rights creep.
It's a very old trick of those who would entrench upon the civil rights of the populace. That or they do things to the military first since they can't really do anything about it and they don't have these pesky "civil rights" to deal with. Paedophiles and military, the bleeding edge of the war on civil rights. This just goes to show why civil rights for even the lowest dredges of society are so important.
I'd think the concept is less like Gattica and more like Minority Report. Walk into a store and immeditiately be targeted based on what you bought last time and have them know your name and so forth. What's worse, imagine not being able to buy or sell anything without one of these tags (ala Tribulation period spoken of in Scripture). I'm not saying that's how it will work, but the proof of concept is definately there.
-- DuckWing
...until now. Outfit the local gendarmes with these beauty's! Imagine using your GPS enabled phone to guide you to the cop posting a traffic citation two blocks down the street so you can redirect his efforts to handle the neighbor's weekly family dispute. Ahh..the irony...
Very, very few RFID devices are active in the sense that you're using.
The power requirements needed to provide range, etc. are enormous and an active tag would usually be the size of a cell-phone and have about the same operational lifetime.
RFID is limited in range under most cases because of the power requirements and the fact that most of these devices have electrically small antennas, limiting the effective power they can radiate. Because of this, the devices in question have range limits- dramatically small ones and you can't say that someone like the NSA has the resources to detect them at longer ranges. The signal at 12 or so feet from most tags are so deep in the noise floor that you're not going to get enough coherent signal to detect it with any tech we are going to have in the forseeable future.
In the case of the tollway tags, they may/may not have a battery in them, but the battery isn't to power a transmitter, nor does it make them active. The battery is there to shorten the turn-on time for the tag. Most of those tollway tags have an incredible range because they're not transmitters or traditional transponders (like most RFID tags), they are very sophisticated RF reflectors that resonate at the specified frequency and impinge a carrier on the reflected signal.
Sort of like putting an LCD in front of a mirror to modulate what its reflecting back to a light source.
All the power is in the reader. And even these devices tend to have a range of only about 20-30 yards. The range is there because you're stacking the deck- if the tag is oriented wrong, you capacitively couple the tag to a larger conductor (hold the thing cupped in your hands), or anything other than that relatively precice placement and the range goes to practically nothing or the reader can't even see it.
If you do not understand how RFID really works, you really and truely should learn how it does before making comments about the same.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
The device in this article, as many have already said, is not an RFID. But let's take that one step further; a lot have also responded to state, simply, how RFID tags could be abused in the same way that this device could be abused. And they're right.
The Slashdot post that links to the article refers to the dystopic world portrayed in Gattaca, and states how instead of identification based upon DNA testing we could be tagged and scanned at every point via RFID tags. Also another technology, but a similar abuse.
In the Holocaust, a low-tech version of the RFID tag was put in place, as we all know. Concentration camp inmates were tattooed with unique serial numbers. It required visual authentication rather than just close proximity, but nonetheless could be used to easily track and identify people, as was its purpose.
Herein lies my whole point. RFID tags are like many technologies; they can be abused or used properly. Unique numbers tattooed onto an arm are a half-step away from SSNs that are needed in modern society where the familiarity of small-town life is no longer a sufficient ID. DNA testing to separate the haves from the have-nots based upon their probable health is a mere decision away from the same DNA testing that helps us diagnose and track many hereditary ailments, with the goal of one day curing them. And RFID tags promise tremendous improvements in industrial applications. Whether they are used to tag inventory or people is not in any way based on the technology; it's a matter of policy. Like the other two technologies described in this post, it is not inherently dangerous and will not be harmful unless we use it to do harm.
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
Pedophiles *aren't* in control of their actions. Think repeat offender drunk drivers - they just *can't* control their behavior. Chronic drunk drivers are frequently subjected to a monitoring device in their vehicle.
The pedophile is much, much worse than a drunk driver. The drunk driver stands some small chance of injuring or killing someone when they drive, but the pedophile who reoffends *always* hurts someone and *frequently* plants the seed that leads to another generation of the same behavior.
Consider this; for society such control means a long term (generations long) decrease in such problems, instead of paying to jail or otherwise institutionalize a dangerous person for whom there is likely NO CURE, they are again a tax paying member of society.
The offender is motivated as well; instead of slowly rotting in prison he is again able to work, live somewhere much more pleasant than cell block C, and the 'control' of radiolocation makes reoffending very, very difficult - most offenders in moments of lucidity welcome anything that will restrain them from further misbehavior.
I've trained police officers in computer forensics and its mostly used in child porn/child enticement cases. I've done RF surverys inside my state's maximum security prison. The father of my son's best friend is a felony probation officer and I cringe every time I hear another story of a third time loser destroying another child's life. I'm not sure whether the horror of the crime is perfectly matched by the horror of the state's warehouse for those unable to be left free, but consequences don't seem to be a deterrent in this area.
I think all parties benefit from a system that makes tax payers with supervision in the place where unrestrained predators and expensively restrained inmates used to be. Good for Great Britain and may it happen here RSN.
I am very easy to get along with, but I don't have time to waste being nice to people who are being stupid. -Theo
The original use for the RFID technology that one of my former employers, Amtech (Animal Management TECHnologies), manufacturer of many, if not most of the tollway tags, was to help detect sick cattle in a feedlot/stockyards situation by pulling certain biometrics off the animal through a backscatter tag as the animals were passed from one location to another. Some illness in the human species comes from eating infected animal flesh.
As for something that you absolutely need RFID for, well, I wouldn't say you NEED it, but it can help for things like tracking/updating vehicle registration, for example.
Another thing is to handle logistics (which is what in the hell they're doing with those merchandise tags, by the way)- or in other words, track things like packing boxes of shoes from the manufacturer to the store so they know how many got there, etc.
Sure, RFID can be misused- it's just difficult to impossible to do the things the people keep going on about with it. Simple physics gets in the way, for starters- the RF power re-radiated from a tag is miniscule and limits the range to about 6-12 feet and after that the falloff is a logrithmic function, with the signal going quickly deep below the noise floor, such that it's undetectable by most anything we can come up with now or in the forseeable future...
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
> it is a good argument for watching very closely to make sure the last four steps are never taken.
Uh, I'd have to disagree and say the last FIVE, sir.
Tagging "former felons" creates a sub-class. Either these people have PAID for their crimes, or they have not. Otherwise, they should not be set free.
In some perverse way it is tempting to free rapists, murders, and pedophiles out of prison with "tracking devices" at the end of their terms. After all, it's the pot and crackheads who get fixed sentences without parole.
Must make room in the prison for the nasty druggies, after all.
No amount of rehabilitation is going to satisfy an anguished victim. However society either considers someone rehabilitated, or not. (Assuming that's what prisons are doing... serving as rehabilitation camps... they look like ass-rape cages to me).
If they ARE rehabilitated enough to be given another chance, then no tagging. It's *bad enough* that a felony conviction in the USA *permanently* strips you of voting rights. Again, permanent... meaning "even after jail time". This nice clause has been exploited by right wing racists in the USA, with "targeted prosecution"... for example: jailing blacks for cocaine use in Texas, while failing to even charge the daughters of the Bush family for coke abuse. No charge, no mandatory minimum sentancing and no felony stigma.
It's about as sick of a system as the prison system used in French Guyana [sp?] South America during French rule. It's slavery with "morality".
Funnily enough, the police don't like it when people tryo to push the same rights violations onto them that they push onto others.
The police at demonstrations and protests in the UK over the last tear or so have taken to photographing and filming as many protesters as they can. Not collecting evidence about unlawful behaviour, literallty walking through crowds taking the picture of every single person they pass.
Funnily enough, I've seen quite a number of police get angry and start shouting when, at the same time, citizens go around photographing police officers and taking their badge numbers.
(Incidentally, I'd be interested if anyone could suggest what the police do with what must be tens of thousands of photographs of people protesting. Must be far too many for any sensible manual searching, which means they are either doing nothing with them, or they are being fed into some face recognition computer somewhere...)
With a normal range of 6-12 feet, with signals that can and usually are blocked by things like the construction materials used in a house? Yeah, riight. Most tags don't have a large range. Simple physics precludes it. The antennas on the tags are almost all electrically small. This limits recieved power from the reader and limits how much actual power that the tag can re-radiate back into it's environment. Equipment that can can resolve the signal at it's absolute maximum range would be about the size of a large PC tower case, require a log periodic directional array to extend the range, and generally cost tens of thousands of dollars- for a range boost to about 10 or so yards. Any further than that, and it doesn't matter how much RF power you pump out, the tag can't re-radiate enough signal to be resolvable any further out- the signal's deep into the noise floor at that point.
I don't think you're going to see what you're claiming anytime soon. Even if the costs come down, it's still going to be in the thousands and the size won't shrink for quite a while (unless there's a quantum leap in RF engineering, that is.).
While the potential is there, it's a lot more difficult than one would think. 10 yards or so is the absolute best that most tags can do because of propagation characteristics of the frequency they're using, size of the antenna, etc. Backscatter tags can get much better, but the problem with those tags are that they're really, really picky about orientation, etc. If you change the orientation to be within 50deg or so of perpendicular to the reader's broadcast signal or do something like place your hand on the back of the tag, the range drops to only a couple of feet instead of 40 or so yards.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
is to tag a number of paedophiles who have volunteered to wear the device.
I have a feeling that "voulenteered" came down to this:
"either you wear our ID tag or you get locked up with Bubba for 10 years."
i could be wrong...
There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who understand binary and those who don't.
>Finally, somebody has stepped up with an article
>that descibes the potental abuse of RFID.
Finally?!!!
Use the search feature -- it at the top of every page -- and search for RIFD. Now what percentage of the articles DON'T discuss the potental abuse of RFID?
The article referenced at the observer had absoloutly nothing to do with RFID tags or technology. It seems to describe a new version of the vernerable "ankle bracelet" that is used widely in the U.S. to track people released on parole or bail.
So we still have no viable arguments against the deployment of RFID tags in to consumer space.
Article X: The powers not delegated... by the Constitution...are reserved...to the people
Imagine being flagged for social tendencies
If those tendencies are to be pedophiles, then flag away.
This is likely a condition of probation, therefore, voluntary. If they don't like it, let them rot in prison.
You guys take this "liberty" thing a litle far for convicted felons.
Slashdot "libertarians": Small government for me, big government for those I disagree with. -1, I disagree with you
Everyone seems to have missed the one truly scary idea in this story.
The electronic diary can be studied remotely by experts to build up a profile of the offender which will help them predict whether the person will offend again.
I've heard this idea before.
The point about narrowing the pool of usual suspects when a crime has been comitted is very fucking scary as well. What if a tagged individual is in the area when a crime is committed by an untagged individual? I sure wouldn't want to be in that guy's position.
The idea of tracking an individual during probation is not in itself objectionable. Those on probation are not considered absolved, they are still serving a portion of their sentence. However, the story indicates the promoters of this technology are not making much of a distinction. And that they expect the offender will continue to wear the device. I'd give this one an 8 out of 10 on the slippery slope scale. If it works with paedophiles, why not track bank robbers to ensure they only use ATMs? How about B&E artists? The system could tell the cops if they were in a strange neighbourhood in the middle of the night. And why not anyone with a history of violent crime? Think how many police officers would be saved by knowing in advance that the car they are stopping contains ex-cons?
step away from the computer, pull down your pants and await the Patriot RFID insertion specialists.
Support your selected President in your actions and your thoughts or we'll know about it.
Sounds like you'll know about my bowel movements as well.
in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
Someone I know had to 'volunteer' to undergo some sort of court appointed therapy. The psychiatrist even went through the motions of having my friend sign a consent form. My friend said that he was coerced. The doctor seemed confused. Professionally, he needed to think that his clients were volunteering to his services, even though it was clear that none of them were.
_khl
Perhaps, but citizens still have some power, and Congress is slowly waking up to what it has actually done by implementing the DMCA. There's still a good chance that it will be repealed or at least neutered in important ways.
Can't argue with you on the Patriot Act, a surprising BAD law, but the United States Constitution holds very little power when it comes to non-citizens. It does grant them some rights, but if you are not a U.S. citizen don't expect to use Constitutionally-guaranteed rights as a defense because you don't have many.
And the Geneva Convention is just that: a convention, which we choose to abide by because it is a good idea, and because we don't want other nations to mistreat our citizens the way we've been abusing theirs. However, it doesn't carry the force of law.
But I agree: if we allow our government to mistreat foreigners the way it has been, we ourselves may be in trouble as well. Heck, I've watched Sliders: I've seen what happens when you repeal the Constitution.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
See _The_Ring_ by Frank Herbert (of Dune fame)
So? Where is the news?
... increasing your hearth disease premium.
Don't your "Ralf's card" (grocery membership card) already send a report to your health insurance? You know about all that red meat you are buying, and the alcohol, sugar,
Don't your bank keep track that every Friday night you use your credit card to buy a pack of cigarettes in that "strange part of town" known for it's suspicious morality?
Ever wondered why you couldn't get a job with a bank?
Oups! Dropped my tin foil hat!
so say I get into a bar fight, get arrested, successfully go to AA, and get tracked as part of parole condition...do I really want to trust system not to parole-breach me because I bought my groceries or gas where alcohol was sold? Do you really think it's not going to happen? Especially if they want an excuse to put me away for something they think I did (but didn't)? Does anyone really believe that it won't happen?
When all of your wishes have been granted, many of your dreams will be destroyed - Marilyn Manson
when will we be ushered to the social security office to get our barcodes tattooed into the back of our necks? Funny how people laughed at these authors who made novels about a future where people are controlled by some greater force.. sadly, with this, it's coming true, first, something like pedophiles, next, criminals, then people who are found rallying in protests, people who send letters to the congressment, then newborns. I'm starting to ponder if I want to even bring a child into this world now. hopefully people will wake the hell up and fight against this soon. but, it'll happen over a long length of time so people will be adjusted to it, imagine people in 50 years getting upset that someone tried reading a book that was banned and they rally for him to get the death penalty, grim but possible future.. it's sad, really. let's just pray that the human race doesnt mindlessly follow into this crap.
so it must be good. if you're against this, you must be a child-raping pedophile. our precious children are our most valuable resource.
/sarcasm off
Stupid people make stupid things profitable.
Not quite an RFID story, but it shows the beginning of the end of any pretense of personal liberty.
Here's a story to freeze your soul: 500 paedophiles to be tracked by satellite tags.
We give up a little liberty, over and over again. And soon there is none left.
I've made the following statement before on Slashdot, but it bears repeating.
First, we tag the pedophiles, real and imagined. This is seen as justified and is welcomed.
Then, we do it "for the children". We tag the children, for after all, they are being kidnapped continually, no? (No, they are not. And any kidnapper would cut out the tracker anyway.)
Then, we do it "for our collective safety". After all, are you for America or for al Queda? Patriot or traitor?
Then, corporate businesses will use trackers for people on the job. After all, they aren't entitled to their jobs, are they? It's a free market, and businesses don't owe people a job. If people don't like being tagged, they can move to another job, no? (No, eventually they can't. Try to get a job without taking a drug test, or having your credit report requested).
Eventually, credit card companies will require one be tagged to obtain a credit card. After all, we aren't owed a credit card, are we? It's a free world, and you don't need a credit card to live.
The military will demand trackers. Just because.
You'll be required to wear a tracker to obtain a passport.
And someday, only trackable people will be allowed into public venues. Or political rallies. Or just to drive. Because people will be used to it, they will look at anyone who objects as a hippy drug using liberal.
Think not? Try refusing a drug test sometime.
We can't allow they to establish the precendent. Listen to an old dude: once you let the bastards get that foothold, they never surrender until they own you. Power is always gained for power's own sake. People who like power are never satisfied with a little taste.
We won't be a damned bit safer with universal human tracking. Any advantage we get by tracking a lost child will be nullified by the ramifications of corporate or political malocontents being tracked and neutralized. We will not see the results of having our every move watched, because they will not be observable. What could happen, WON'T happen because people will know they are being watched. A devastating cloud of suppression is being laid down.
And remember: Bill Gates, GW Bush, or Ken Lay won't be trackable, you can bet your ass. Only the relatively powerless will be under the watchful eye of our corporate bosses.
1) It's nothing new. Just an incremental improvement over existing tracking bracelets that have been in use for years.
2) It's not RFID tags. Not even remotely the same. RFID tags cannot have a range of more than a few feet, or they cease to have any use. These are satellite tracking devices.
3) The sky is not falling.
4) Whoever submitted this is an idiot.
5) Whoever approved it is more of an idiot.
If you're going to using a mask, you're probably going to want to do a logical AND, not a check for equality.
FYI.
CmdrTaco didn't even glance at the submission, did he? A classic Slashdot editor troll.
It isn't quite RFID. It is a cell phone and GPS.
It isn't quite Gattaca. It is 1984.
It isn't quite social tendencies. It is paedophilia.
I applaud Matrix2110 on getting this through. Excellent job.
Yeah, yeah, bitwise AND is what I meant...
Is that people want to use these AFTER a criminal is done with their sentence. They'd like to track certian classess of people with these for life. Now THAT is a clear violation of rights. I have no problem if they want to use something like this for parole. When you are on parole, you've not yet paid your debt to society. For good behaviour, etc, your rights have been partially restored, but not completely. Therefore I don't have a problem if they want to attach a tracker to you. You may, if you object, serve the remainder of your sentence out. Parole is a privlegde, not a right.
However, once your entire sentnce is served or once your parole is over you are now a free person and a full citizen again. The government no longer has any right to monitor you any closer than anyone else. Once your debt is paid, you should no longer be tracked or harassed.
I don't accept that fact, but I'll ignore that for the purpose of this argument. I will also ignore the arguments about when a human can or should be able to claim they are ready to have sex.
Remember that states, at various times, have decided that various racial groups, those who adhere to a specific sect, those who happen to hold a particular political belief, or even those who happen to favor a particular manufacturer of goods have been held to the same standards - namely, that they are unable to behave otherwise, and so need to be [forced to do what is right, owned by "real" people, relocated to far off places, killed].
You even hint at the problem when you mention the ACLU persecuting conservatives. You appear to recognize the problem.
So what is it - should those who have done time be free when they get out, or not? If not, what about the rest of us? Shouldn't we we monitored, just in case? Or do you believe that a given proclivity somehow makes someone less than human, therfore not subject to the legal rights of the rest of us? Please, choose. I'm sure the response will be amusing.
My base argument is this: if you commit a crime, you are responsible to make good on that, as defined by the state. When you are done making restitution, you are no longer a ward of the state. Any different interpretation allows all number of incursions into the private life of everyone.
If one accepts your postulate, that child molesters are incapable of not molesting children, than the only rational behaviour on the part of the state is to kill them, as they are not capable of taking part in society as the state defines it. I don't accept that line or reasoning, but it is at least coherent. Exiting someone from incarceration, but requiring them to [fill in the blank] is not actually discharging them from the legal system. And I promise, these sorts of creeping monitoring _will_ bleed in to other offenses. Drunk driving? Habitual violence? Tax avoidance?
(I have deeper questions about state punishment, but those arguments above are enough for the conversation at hand. I'm only throwing this note out so that folks don't think I actually support everything I say above - there's rhetoric about.)
I forget what 8 was for.
in horribly bad storage facilities, some grain in russia becomes acidic, so yes, in old country, grain DOES eat you.
Support Israeli punk bands. Man Alive.
Just wondering if these phones would still work in places which have mobile phone jammers (ie cinemas and theatres)? It could look like the individual tagged was trying to slip the leash.
Read St. John's Apocalypse, chapter 13.
Police States now have marketing specialists. Wheee.
When it comes to convicted sex offenders.
Mind you, I am as paranoid as anyone regarding the use of such technology on people, but there is a BIG difference here.
Violent sex offenders are typically incurable and are highly likely to "re-offend". Releasing them into the community has been shown, time and again, to result in tragic consequences. The application of a technology that might prevent such tragedies, while allowing these "people" to lead relatively normal lives is a welcome advance.
sorry about flaming, but. no, it's not a condition for parole, probation or what have you. one fall means marked for life in some people's mind, no matter what you think... and a convicted felon was convicted of a crime in the past, right? not a possible crime in the future. when you've served that sentence, you're just a guy who's starting over. have we stopped believing in starting over? didn't you ever do anything you later wish you hadn't done?
--v
Bit of clarity please, England and Britain are not the same place.
Not sure if the pilot program you mention is being tested right across Britain or only in England...
Thus, a sixteen year old boy and girl get caught in a parking lot somewhere by police - the boy gets charged, while the girl does not. Because she's a minor, the girl also does not get the option of not pressing charges, as it becomes a concern of the parent and the state. When called to testify, her options also can get seriously limited.
It usually doesn't come to this, though, unless the girl gets pregnant.
Tagging pedophilles should make it a lot easier for the neighborhood vigalantes to track them down. Just go wardriving with a scanner and a gun.