Wealthy Mexicans Getting Chipped in Case of Abduction

Because the number of abductions in Mexico has jumped almost 40% in the past 3 years, the wealthy are getting subcutaneous transmitters so they can be tracked when kidnapped. Xega, the Mexican security firm which makes the chips, has seen a sales jump of 13% this year. The company injects the crystal-encased chip, the size and shape of a grain of rice, into clients' bodies with a syringe. The chip then sends radio signals to a larger device carried by the client with a global positioning system in it. A satellite can then be used to find the location of the missing person. Things must be a lot worse in Mexico than I thought.

Comments

Please make it stop

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh.. the humanity...

Re:Please make it stop

[dotancohen]

I was going to read it, then noticed that I'm on idle.~, so I stopped.

Re:Please make it stop

[negRo_slim]

Because the number of abductions in Mexico has jumped almost 40% in the past 3 years

Okay, well 40% increase doesn't neccesarily mean its a large number or ever was to begin with.

Xega, the Mexican security firm which makes the chips, has seen a sales jump of 13% this year.

Once again, if the their sales were only a handful prior... But really the big issue is we're afraid that at some point in the future we will see this mandated by the government and a case like this will be used as justification of the need. Really though, I would think those with the most wealth and/or power would be the least likely to want to be tracked.

Re:Please make it stop

[zsau]

You have my respect for typing such a long reply into such a narrow box, but aside from that I think it's confused:

• These chips aren't for "city slickers" living in America, they're for people in Mexico.
• Having a chip doesn't stop you packing a gun.
• Having a chip doesn't make yourself like property; it's like carrying a mobile phone. Or a gun ("oh, he can't help himself; he needs to have his own personal protection service like cattle").
• Refusing to help someone clearly in need is the most inhumane thing in world, regardless of whether you have different views on personal security.
• The reason western countries are safe is precisely because of the government. The bad guys know if they attack the general public there's too much risk they will be caught by the police i.e. a government arm — even if the crooks have guns and us civilians don't. I don't know what your reference to Russia and China was meant to prove; they barely have governments, will all the corruption they've got up top.

Wonderful

[Anonymous Coward]

Great. Now when you're kidnapped the first thing they'll do is cut off a chunk of your flesh. Or even just stick you in a metallic sack so that the radio signal can't escape.

Re:Wonderful

[Freeside1]

The chip then sends radio signals to a larger device carried by the client with a global positioning system in it.

Or they can just smash the 'device' to bits. I fail to see the utility of this system.

Re:Wonderful

[davester666]

Or the opposite. Anybody carrying one of these devices thinks of themselves as being wealthy and/or important. That is like having a tattoo on your forehead saying "Kidnap Me".

And of course, once kidnapped the external device is destroyed. And if the implanted device has any significant range [say, more than 1 room, so it may be detected outside the room where you are held], the implant also gets dug out. So, if you're lucky, you will be ransomed quickly, so you can get some antibiotics to kill the infection...

Re:Wonderful

[noidentity]

Think "watchdog timer". It's like all you sysadmins who can tell when a system goes down, not because it sends a "Hey, I just went down" signal, but because it stops sending a "hey I'm up" signal.

Re:Wonderful

[Anonymous Coward]

I dont think people here seem to understand how neat this is.

Who says that the external device cant be a watch an ipod or my favorite imbedded in a shoe. [agent smart style :-) ]

These sort of kidnappings are crimes of opportunity .

What happens is they grab you stick you in a car for a few hours while making threats to family members.
"Give us the cash or there dead" sort of calls.

What this device does lets people know a crime has been committed ,where and when and until they crooks catch on where the victim is.

It means it becomes much harder to commit these crimes as now you have remove the victims watch, Ipod , shoes etc.

When you go to clubs how may bouncers check your shoes?

One slip up and there gone. [sorry for the pun :-)]

Re:Wonderful

[alderX]

They can throw away the device, but it wouldn't confuse law enforcement.

I guess the point is that the device is constantly reading the RFID chip. And that the device is constantly sending it's position.

If the RFID chip can't be read, then they take it as an indication that the device is no longer attached to the person and that this is probably due to a crime. So they now "know" (a) a crime is happening and (b) it happend somewhere between the last two signals (1st signal being the last one with RFID chip access, 2nd signal being the first one without RFID chip access).

So still the bad guy could cut out the RFID chip and tape it to the device and then throw the device away. If they are a bit more civilized they clone the RFID chip and then tape the clone to the device.

Hmmm, what could be the problem here?

[SengirV]

The chip then sends radio signals to a larger device carried by the client with a global positioning system in it.

Call me crazy, but I think I found a flaw in their system.

All aboard the clue train.

[ElectricTurtle]

Things must be a lot worse in Mexico than I thought.

Somebody hasn't been paying attention. Kidnapping is an entire industry in countries south of the Rio Grande, especially in Mexico and Brazil, and has been for at least a decade.

Re:All aboard the clue train.

[antibryce]

Not just south of the border either. There have been over 200 kidnappings in the US this year so far.

But hey don't call for tighter border security or you're a racist!

Re:All aboard the clue train.

[ArsonSmith]

Solution: first repeal the gun ban in Mexico, implement something closer to what we have in the US. Of course not quite as restrictive as it's pretty lame in some places here too. Weed out the crazies and felons the best you can but make sure everyone else also has a gun.

Like them or hate them they are the great equalizer. make sure most citizens have a gun and kidnappings will go down to almost zero. Kidnapper related gun deaths may go up for a little while though.

Re:All aboard the clue train.

[quenda]

I like your approach. If every car had a .50cal machine gun on the hood, drivers would be a lot more courteous.
And RPGs would be a great equaliser between cars and trucks.
      Best of all, the UN should issue every country with a set of nukes. I'll bet that would cut down on invasions of small oil-rich nations.

So exactly what is the implant for?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you need to carry a "larger device" with you to send the signal, why do you need an implant?

Re:So exactly what is the implant for?

[Chris Burke]

What exactly is the implant for? My guess is squeezing another couple grand out of scared rich folk.

Re:So exactly what is the implant for?

[GospelHead821]

My intuition is that the interaction between the chip and the larger device is actually pretty important. If the device has a panic button on it, it serves as a homing beacon as long as it remains in the possession of the person with the chip. If it becomes separated from the person with the chip, it could automatically go into panic mode and identify the location where the person was forcibly separated from their device (or, you know, where they accidentally left it at the boutique.) Depending on exactly the range of the interaction between the chip and the device, recovering a victim's device could help to locate them if you come within N meters of them and their chip.

Say again?

[hansraj]

The chip then sends radio signals to a larger device carried by the client with a global positioning system in it.

Huh? What are these people smoking?

Also, why is it on Idle and not on, say, science?

What happens when...

[pwnies]

a common thief finds a way to access the positions of all of these rich people. Seems to me an easy way to establish targets, not protect them.

ewww

[circletimessquare]

i hope buyers realize that all they are doing is changing kidnapping standard operating procedure

kidnappers will now locate the chip probably with nothing more than a $20 standard wall stud finder, then reach into the victim's skin with sharp nosed dirty pliers and toss the chip on the street. then probably send the victim's family a picture of the gaping wound for proof of untraceability and bonus horror factor

ewwww

Re: Wealthy Mexicans Getting Chipped in Case of Ab

[nickhart]

It's a result of gross class inequality--which is the REAL pity.

Re:Wait, what?

[JSBiff]

I had almost the exact same reaction - if the chip needs an external device, wth is the chip actually doing that couldn't just be in the external device.

Also, If I kidnap some rich kid, the first thing I'm doing is tossing his cell phone, mp3 player, gameboy, and any other electronics that might secretly be tracking me, into the nearest garbabe can, or hell, just dump it on the sidewalk or street.

Re: Wealthy Mexicans Getting Chipped in Case of Ab

[ChibiOne]

No. It is the result of impunity and corrpution of the police.

These thugs are not humble, starving individuals trying to feed their families. They are well organized criminal bands, with links to corrupt current (or ex) cops, who know that given the inefficient and corrupt justice system that prevails, know they can and will get away with it.

Google for the Fernando Marti kidnapping and murder to get a glimpse of what's currently happening down here in Mexico.

Schadenfreude

[Nymz]

This is on Idle (our offtopic humor/meme/viral video/pictures section) because:
- Once abducted, you have plenty of 'idle' time. (clever joke)
- Slashdot editors think abductions are funny when they happen to Mexicans. (Schadenfreude)

Rich Mexican Detector

[PolygamousRanchKid]

Friends ... I sell you a rich Mexican detector ... itsa wery nize ... you pointa da ding to Mexican ... if rice in blood ... itsa rich Mexican ... you kidnap ...

Re:Now we're getting somewhere.

[ChibiOne]

But that's not the point. The point is folks perceived a change. The thought that finally, there needs were being addressed.

After 70+ years of the same authoritarian, corrupt, one-party PRI government, we thought change and democracy had finally arrived when oposing party's Vicente Fox became president in 2000. The only change that we got was that the corrupt officials were now from PAN party instead of PRI. And the 2006 elections managed only to divide the population thinking the other side was the enemy, thanks to pseudo-left wing party PRD.

OUr government officials, wheter from PRI, PAN or PRD, are only interested in power for their party, not the people's good. Once they get the votes, they forget about their promises and spend their terms living off our taxes.

Why do we let it happen? The System is corrupt at its marrow. As you say, a true leader is needed. PRD's Andres Lopez deceived everyone into thinkink he was the one, yet after his loss, all his actions show that he was only interested in power for power's sake. Same for incumbent President Calderon. They are all the same.

Correlation != Causation

[Anonymous Coward]

If you look on the same page, it shows a graph of Mexico's GINI Coefficient slowly going down, yet the number of kidnapping crimes in Mexico have been going up.

Hmm... instead of Mexico's kidnapping crimes being related to some mystical number, perhaps the reason why Mexico's crime level has to do with government corruption?

Re:Hmmm, what could be the problem here?

[credd144az]

I think the real flaw is that I'm not a cat...

Conspiracy nuts predicted this.

[shaitand]

It was predicted 10 years ago by the conspiracy nuts that these chips woudl make their way into humans. Shortly after, the chips being discussed started to be implanted in animals and now humans. Of course they are just mexicans so it hasn't made its way into real people in the first world yet but that is just around the corner. The mark of the beast has come. ;) First tracking (for YOUR safety), next they start encoding emergency health information on it. After all, who wouldn't want doctor house to know they are allergic to penicillin. Next they move the monetary system to the chip.

shopping list

[SgtChaireBourne]

Ok. So now all I have to do is scan the crowd to see which rich bastard will give the best ROI on an abduction. A side effect of being wealthy is that they are often usually healthier than the masses and even if they can't provide a good ransom, they can give better prices when sold for parts.

Now that they are electronically tagged for my shopping convenience and cross-referenced with financial databases, there is a lot less shot-in-the-dark guessing.