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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.""
No one Cares about the Homeless! /sarcasm)
So now we can use geocaching to find homeless people? Awesome!
This is the most retarded April Fool's day yet. If you can't come up with your own stuff, at least link to people that do. Lucky for Slashdot that Paypal doesn't let you donate a kick in the ass.
That is how I read it.
How does CTRL-ALT-DEL work on windows CE?
with all these april fool's postings, I don't know what to believe anymore!
(huddles in corner wearing tinfoil hat whilst sucking on thumb)
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.
You can defeat this plot by putting the homeless person in a microwave.
taken! (by Davidleeroth) Thanks Bingo Foo!
who will use custom Windows NT software
That's a joke all in itself.
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.
You had me up 'til then.
Yep. Running on NT is the giveaway. MS would not condone this unless it was on XP.
You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
What do you mean, April Fool's joke?
Use Ctrl-C instead of ESC in Vim!
This is real news. I'm watching it on tv now, though there's no mention of NT or CE integration.
Turn on CSPAN if you don't believe me. Apparently the fifth cousin of an FBI detective that knew about 9/11 a few seconds before the first impact is homeless, and we suspect they're manufacturing WMD in secret rather than feed their own people.
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
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?
Although the story is an exaggeration of the actual program, which does not use RFID, there is a real program called Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) being developed by the Department of Housing and Development. From my cursory glance, it seems as though it's a program to collect data on homeless in the name of cutting down crime and assisting them, rather than full-on movement tracking (think of the infrastructure costs!). Anyhow, EPIC discusses it here
Anybody who has ever been arrested, tried, convicted, of any misdemeanor or above should be tracked using this technology. It's just a good idea - we can keep an eye on criminals.
;>
Better, you could program the automatic doors of your home or office to not let in tagged criminals.
By storing the information in XML format, you can interactively query a RFIDed criminal to find out what their background is (violent vs. non-violent, type of theft, drug use, current income level, gender, SSN, credit history, etc.) and let your security system decide on the fly whether you want that particular entity on your premises.
In fact, governments, building owners, and residents could publish their specification for the type of people they will allow into their space -this will solve all sorts of social ills in the future. The Upper Eastside of New York City, for example, could specify:
<Entities_Allowed>
<Income minimum="50000"/>
<Convictions allowed="white_collar"/>
<Race allowed="caucasian,asian"/>
<Memberships disallowed="ACLU,NYCLU"/>
<Jokes onyou="april foools"
</Entities_Allowed>
Big Daddy, Johnny, Burp, Aunt Zelda, Scott, Slurp, Big Momma
Humm... as far as I know there is no guarantee in The Constitution stating that the government CAN'T implant RFID tags (and shock devices, cause that's really where we're going w/ this) into you, your dog , and the homeless guy living down the street. What are you trying to hide? Aren't you a patriot? Don't resits, assamiliate... it's much safer ;)
And Howard Dean said "GwaUEAUEAAUE".
...from Etch-a-Sketch for WinCE. So a reboot is as simple as shaking it!
This was obviously written by someone who works with homeless programs. PATH is a real program, funded under the McKinney grant, and they are actually deploying Palms to collect data on mentally ill homeless persons.
On any other day, I would actually have believed this for half a second. Clearly, there are big privacy issues with collecting any sort of information on people. The current requirements make me any many others very uncomfortable. The federal government has actually received quite a bit of push back over this issue, and the final rule has been delayed for more than a year as a result of the privacy concerns.
Thankfully, it look like HUD will be making significant concessions to address community concerns, that will result in a final requirement that better protects client privacy.
You misspelled "assmutilate"
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
bank
employer(time cards, drug testing, etc.)
state ID
IRS
ISP
slashdot(you never know)
Did I miss anything?
What?
This is not fucking funny. If this continues, I will stop reading slashdot.
I do have to say that this was the best one for the whole day, though. All the other ones were just, "Ugh...it's April Fool's isn't it?", but this one actually made me chuckle.
Netjak.com independent reviews of domestic & import video ga
RFID chips in dental work
How else do you think the "identify" people by their dental records.
The miniscule RFID tags are no larger than a matchstick and will be implanted subdermally, meaning under the skin
... but the kind I use are known as "Farmer's Matches", and they're huge!
Dude, I don't know about your matchsticks
-kgj
-kgj
How does it taste? It varies from person to person.
Did I miss anything?
Only your brain.
(Sorry... I'm in a bad mood and I have some karma to burn. 'Twas not intended as a comment on you as a person, of course.)
The RFID chips would be tracking realtime movement rather than traffic stops, debts, or purchases. While the items in your list can track the periodic locations of a person, they do not provide realtime location data.
As for the article: I'm pretty sure it's an "April Fool's" prank, just picked up a bit late. After all, the RFID detectors would need some kind of return response, and I don't imagine that the RFID tags could have that much antenna power (or electric power at all, for that matter). Not to mention that the whole thing would be flawed by the problems encountered with underground telephone lines and cutting tools which might be used to remove an RFID chip (and for extra fun, that chip could be placed underneath a stray cat's collar or wrapped in tin foil for a magpie or crow to pick up).
So... I'm not ready to believe this information, just yet.
If I see it a week from now, I'll consider it with more weight.
~UP
Eat the Path.
Polling shows it'll play well in the midwest.
Yes, I know that you're continuing the political propaganda ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H alleged joke.
But, no, polling does not show it would play well in the midwest. Or with the right wing - especially the Christian Right. Even a trial balloon on this subject would result in a guaranteed loss for Bush in the next election.
FYI: There is nobody more rabidly opposed to implanted RFID tracking devices than a Christian Fundamentalist. While right-wingers in general are suspicious of programs that invade personal privacy (since they are perceived as mostly used, once instituted, by left-wingers to dump on their political enemies), an implanted I.D. chip plays directly into one of the Christian Fundamentalists' hot buttons.
An implanted RFID device is an indellible "mark" transmitting a number - the serial number of the device (which is used as an index to an external database of personal information) and/or any stored information (which is also encoded as a binary string, i.e. a number).
According to a Christian Fundamentalist, tagging people with a government-mandated indelible identification number is applying the "Mark of the Beast". (See the Book of Revalations.) The person who would cause that to occur as a government program is the Antichrist, it happens as the end times and final battle are approaching, anybody who lets it happen to him has signed up with the wrong side, etc.
This opposition to anything even approximating applying a number to people, especially if related to financial transactions (which includes aid programs) is SO strong that it has been a problem even during the rollouts of Social Security, the Income Tax, credit cards, ATM debit cards, and online banking services.
Bush and his administration have been clueless enough to do a number of things to tweak off their electoral base. But mandating an implanted I.D. number in the face of this well-known (on the right) hotbutton issue would be cluelessness far beyond the pale. Essentially ALL of his advisors would be SCREAMING at him if he gave the SLIGHTEST sign of being in favor of such a scheme.
Which is why you KNOW this is another (literally) damned April Fool joke.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
A few years ago, I went into a Sears to buy a new microwave oven. They had a display model that was really cheap, so I decided to buy it. The sale associate says "Whats your name" and I say "Why do you need my name? I'm paying cash for this" and he replies "Because the computer tells me to".
I ask "Does the computer tell you other things?" He doesn't get it. So I say "Jackie Brown" (just watched the movie the night before). He says "Huh? But..." but types it in anyway. Then he asks for my address. I reply "I don't have an address, I'm homeless." Mind you, I'm wearing nice clothes, driving a new car, etc. He asks "If you're homeless, then why do you need a microwave?" I respond "Because I don't have one." Increasingly frustrated, he says "I have to put something in." So I pick up a card and read the stores address to him. By this time a couple of other bored sales associates have come round. He doesn't like my answer, but types it in anyway. Then I pull a fat wad out of my pocket and peel off a hundred. And walk out with my oven.
-cp-
You are completely wrong! The homeless are tracked. Congress required all agencies receiving funding from HUD to be using a Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) to track the homeless and their use of services. Communities are then required to report this information and are often required to collaborate with neighboring communities to provide regional information. In my state of Massachusetts, some homeless agencies have been using HMIS for as much as 6 years. Excellent statistics for the city of Boston are available as they have required all agencies in the city receiving city funds to use HMIS for at least 5 years. The published statistics do not specifically tell who was where when for what. They do give detailed demographic information and types of services received. The city of Cambridge is beginning to use HMIS to do a gaps analysis, creating statistics to see the difference between the need and what is provided. More information can be found at
HMIS
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.