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Homeless to be Implanted with Subdermal RFID Tags
An anonymous reader writes "Politech has the scoop on the Bush administration's plans to forcibly implant RFID tags into homeless people in participating U.S. cities. Here's an excerpt from the UPI article: "The miniscule RFID tags are no larger than a matchstick and will be implanted subdermally, meaning under the skin. Data from RFID tracking stations mounted on telephone poles will be transmitted to police and
social service workers, who will use custom Windows NT software to track movements of the homeless in real time... A second phase of the project, scheduled to be completed in early 2005, will wirelessly transmit live information on the locations of homeless people to handheld computers running the Windows CE operating system.""
These April fools joke articles are killing me! CmdrTaco is on a roll! Please put me out of my misery.
Might as well pull a joke on myself now, Slashdot my page!
Oh the shame... I will be the fool.
Yeah, Bush is evil, but I really doubt he's that evil.
This sounds like someone's idea of a very bad joke.
To celebrate the occasion of my 1000th post, I will post no more forever on Slashdot. Goodbye.
FIRST REPLY.
The blood of the innocent will flow freely from the steps of the new corporate justice.
PROPS TO ARK/DC2!
I am invloved in an effort to produce an open source HMIS, so that if we are required to have tracking systems, at least they will be inexpensive and under the control of non-commercial entities. You can see a demo of the open HMIS at: homeless-mis.net It uses PHP and Postgres (or MS-SQL if you like that sort of thing....)
The idea of integrated information systems actually started with homeless advocates that wanted to improve services through coordinated service delivery. But, like any tool, HMISs can be mis-used, and sometimes you wonder what motiviates these federal requirements.
Relax folks, the workday is ending here in the CST and I don't need more articles to pass the time, tomorrow will be back to normal, no harm, no foul. Hell, I've even read more /. today than I usually do.
I like knowing that the crew here knows how to take a day off, unlike many of the rest of us.
-- In Soviet Russia, radio listens to YOU!
I sat through all of the crap that's been posted today due to AF, but this is just plain not in good taste. Invasion of privacy by RFID is safe to poach on - maybe one along the lines of Dilbert (PHBs using RFID to track workers) - but the subject of homelessness just plain isn't funny. Reminds me a bit of the TV show that paid homless folks to fight each other...
--- Bwah?
Why spend the money when it's cheaper to just ignore them like we do now?
I agree, apparently only people with absolutely no ability to be humorous are posting "april fools" articles today.....
That program is slated to begin April 1st, 2005.
Time is short, so plan accordingly. Quickly now, scope out a bomb shelter, get down into it, and no matter what anyone says, please don't come out. It's far too dangerous.
When is it going to end that you keep shamelessly promoting your website in every April Fool's Slashdot thread? :^)
OK, I gotta stop reading these crap April Fool's discussions...
Last year, the April Fool's day stories actually seemed real. They had thought behind them. This year's crop blows. Next thing you know we'll see a story about carbon nanotube dildos or something equally retarded...
Slashdot is proof that Sturgeon's Law applies to mankind.
The homeless are the only group that's not being tracked at the moment. All the rest of you are already being tracked by your: credit card membership card (wall mart, sams, grocery store, etc.) utility bills What if I pay cash and am unemployed?
You have been completely taken in by Slashdot's April Fool's prank 2004. Remember last time how the actual prank was not the article itself, but the fact that it was reposted over and over? Well, the prank this time is lots of really lame April Fool's articles. Everyone who gets mad and yells about how "it's not funny" is merely too stupid to get the joke.
...
If Upper Management wanted to tag homeless people, they'd be tagged already, and the only reason it might be done would be to soften the rest of the public up. Though, truthfully, I'd see it starting with prisoners, then parolees, then addicts who get free needles, then people receiving unemployment benefits. Then Islamics.
But even all of that would only be a psychological form of control; something purely to make you know that you're the dog and break down your spirit of rebellion. In truth, the 'real' threats, (regular people with jobs and pseudo-power), are already tagged. You carry one or two of them around with you in your wallet and you produce them for regular scanning. And beyond that, you'll probably be wearing a tag or two in your fancy GAP pants by the end of this year without even realizing it.
Anyway, all these April Fool's stories are giving me a stomach ache. Not a single one of them so far would be terribly out of place on a regular news day. That'll give anybody with a soul gastric problems.
-FL
The sub-moronic April fools submissions today are terrible. Be more creative please, at make the first three sentances sound believable.
Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
Bush would never do this. The poor don't give campaign contributions so why help them and making the poor into meat patties would hurt our cattle growers who do give campaign contributions.
C'mon.. implanting a subdermal RFID? Can we find a legitimate source for this story?
Don't get me wrong, I think it would be consistent w/ their broader actions, but breaking that news on April 1? I don't think so.
Implanting tracking chips into homeless people is the grossest violation of human rights I've read about all day.
"I am a fictional character."
we had a roaring economy, very low unemployment, relative world stability, a constantly improving world image, and everyone was succesful. Now let's take a look at Bush: record unemployment two full scale wars conflicts involving US troops in at least 4 other locales Gasoline headed towards 3 dollars a gallon Record budget deficit Record trade deficit Historically notable loss of civil liberties We have lost all credibility and good will in the international arena. We have fostered and increased hatred of our country in the Arab world Our currency is declining daily against the Euro, which should reduce our trade deficit with Europe but isn't because of the economic policies of Bush. Add to this the fact that he didn't win the popular election, consistently makes decision based on religion and even goes so far as to state that openly, and is now trying to silence all criticism and opposition to him through the FEC. He's doing a much better job apparently.