'Pacemaker'-like GPS Device for Humans 348
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.
kidnapping of the future: (Score:5, Funny)
2. operate on victim to remove tracking device
3. ask ransom
etc..
Re:kidnapping of the future: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:kidnapping of the future: (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:kidnapping of the future: (Score:2)
Good point. I'll add that to my business plan
Re:kidnapping of the future: (Score:2)
Dave
You did it !!!! (Score:2)
Gosh ! First time I see someone divulging his ultra confidential business plan on
Did you patent it first ? 8p
Now I'm waiting for the silly jokes...
btw a good solution to prevent this to work if implanted would be putting the kidnappee in one of those highly reflective emergency covers (the gold and silver ones)...
Also I can't begin to imagine what would have happened to me if my Mom had had access to this sort of tech 8(
Re:kidnapping of the future: (Score:2)
1. kidnap victim
2. operate on victim to remove tracking device
3. ask ransom
etc..
What I find very unsettling is the real 2.:
2. operate on victim to remove tracking device and bothcthis up horribly, killing the victim or crippling it for life..
Re:kidnapping of the future: (Score:2)
Later you can extract the device at an expensive hospital and mail it back to the family with a video tape of the operation as "proof of life".
Also, as far as not advertising that someone is chipped, it wouldn't matter. All you have to do is x-ray the victim using Korean War technolo
Re:kidnapping of the future: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:kidnapping of the future: (Score:5, Funny)
2. Wrap victim in aluminum foil
or
2. Keep victim indoors or inside a car where the GPS doesn't work
This device is not _that_ hard to foil...
Re:kidnapping of the future: (Score:4, Interesting)
Where it could be really usful is with carjacking, since they are so small could contain thier own power, you can stick large amounts of them in a vehicle.
Big Brother is watching!! (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Big Brother is watching!! (Score:2)
I don't have a problem with convicted criminals being implanted, and their movements tracked for a certain amount of time, it'll reduce the prison populations and, hopefully, ensure convicts don't commit more crimes because theyd be found out easier. Deterring crime is far better t
Re:Big Brother is watching!! (Score:5, Insightful)
There would be major ethical problems for most surgeons. It would go against their creed to operate on a person without their consent when the operation was not needed for a medical condition.
I think we should take some time to consider the implications of asking doctors and surgeons to perform such operations.
Besides, the first people to receive these implants should be politicians, oh and the entire staff at Digital Angel.
Best wishes,
Mike.
Re:Big Brother is watching!! (Score:3, Insightful)
Not necessarily without their permission (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Re:Not necessarily without their permission (Score:3, Insightful)
Perhaps in a \. first I will admit that I really don't know.
There are so many implications raised by the introduction of this sort of pervasive technology. I can easily see any use by governments as a slippery slope. We have overcrowded prisons so implant people with trackers (after all its only a small step from current tags), convicted of shop-lifting? have a tag put in your bod
Re:Not necessarily without their permission (Score:3, Insightful)
I concur... not just removed, but possibly also used as an alibi.
For every system someone will be there looking to make money from beating it.
Also, what's to prevent people from disabling the device? Could it be made resistant to ultrasonic, microwave, close-range EMP, precise laser, or other creative attacks?
THX-1138 has disappeared.
Re:Not necessarily without their permission (Score:3, Interesting)
If they implanted it, one of the conditions would be that you check in, where they could verify that it was still implanted, using one mechanism or other.
If you remove it, you either have to run or show up and fail the GPS placement test. So you're caught, with some lead time. So we can't do that.
If you shield it all the time, they are going to throw you back in the clink. So you're caught, maybe with lots of lead time.
If you shield intermittently, they are going to se
Re:Big Brother is watching!! (Score:4, Informative)
Your comments?
Re:Big Brother is watching!! (Score:5, Insightful)
The main application, as ever, is military. If the Army can pin-point each of their soldiers and determine easily whether they're alive, dead or injured, they'll be *very* happy. Triage becomes much easier if you know the guy is alive before you go over to him, and if you're wounded then your guys can check that you're still alive before they come to get you under fire.
Tracking convicted felons sounds a perfect use as well, though. Anyone who thinks this is invasion of privacy, think again - a convicted felon has NO right of privacy, bcos you need to be sure they won't reoffend during their parole period. As a convicted felon, you have a choice - either stay in your cell with Bubba, or get out into the real world but have restrictions on where you can go, what you can do, and and at what time. Take your pick. Personally I reckon anyone allowed out of prison early with a curfew imposed has got pretty damn lucky, compared to the alternative. Of course there is also the point that after the parole period, you'll need to be sure the device is turned off - leaving it on forever *would* be invasion of privacy, unless your crime is such (eg. child molesting) that you are banned for life from entering certain areas such as school zones.
Grab.
Re:Big Brother is watching!! (Score:3, Informative)
That's all great and it is one of the first things I thought of (after Big Brother). I am in the military and I tell you what, I would flatout refuse to allow anything like this to be implanted/injected into me regardless of its military utility.
I could perhaps accept a small, sub-q insert that is easily placed and, more importantly, easily removed immediately after I leave a combat/war arena but that is the absolute kicker. It can go in when going to a combat theater but it must, absolutely MUST come o
this is gonna make a great plugin for Doom 3! (Score:2, Funny)
- that guy
p.s.: first?
The IT job market sucks.. (Score:3, Funny)
Boss' revenge? (Score:5, Funny)
Extension (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Extension (Score:5, Funny)
Hello people, wake up (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Hello people, wake up (Score:2)
Cell phone carriers need to be able to pinpoint the location of a call immediately by December 31, 2005.
This approach is being used ... (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
zRe:Hello people, wake up (Score:5, Insightful)
I can also get rid of my credit card. I can always phone using public phones, If I am paranoid enough.
So, the age of privacy isn't really over unless we are forced to have these chip implants. Otherwise, even if the phone/cable/car company has some of my data, that does not mean that they know my every move.
Re:Hello people, wake up (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Hello people, wake up (Score:3, Insightful)
For people with phones that don't have GPS, maybe this triangulation of cell ids can be done on the phone as a "poor man's GPS". I know most phone OSs, like Symbian, have some API to get the id of the current (ie strongest) cell, but I wonder if there is a way to get a list of ids for cells whose signal strength is weaker but still "within reach". Then you could triangulate those cell locations.
Re:Hello people, wake up (Score:2)
http://100777.com/science/08.htm [100777.com]
And I really think that funky odor is your own denial
READ YOUR OWN ARTICLE! (Score:5, Insightful)
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?
Re:READ YOUR OWN ARTICLE! (Score:2)
You pushed the power button and the screen went off and you thought it was OFF? hahaha
Next time, try taking the battery out and holding down all the buttons to try and drain the capacitors.
What happens? (Score:5, Insightful)
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/03/19/034
The potential for abuse is more terrifying, really.
Re:What happens? (Score:3, Insightful)
Think of this combination - known GPS signal + hyper-accurate orbital-based laser system. Anyone who has a device like this implanted could be popped the moment they stepped outside, any time anyone cared to do so.
I could see the US government implanting these in known criminals and dissidents. Perhaps as a condition of parole.
Re:What happens? (Score:2)
GPS haven't been around all that long. I doubt the likes of DHL would go bankrupt even though they depend on it today. Pretty sure they've got a backup (the old way of doing it) in case of GPS malfunction.
get a jump on those who would abuse it (Score:4, Insightful)
Captain Picard: Computer, where is Commander Data?
Computer: Lieutenant Commander Data is no longer aboard the Enterprise.
Interesting... (Score:2, Funny)
Noooooo!!!! (Score:2, Funny)
Can you imagine someone putting the WhereIam on their slashdot journal and having hoardes of screaming admins running after them yelling "Ask before you link! ASK BEFORE YOU LINK!!!!"
Where I am - ready for download (Score:2)
There Is at least one already... (Score:4, Interesting)
This guy [gadgeter.org] 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.
I remember Dec. 1999.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Will this work on Jan 1st 2000?
After a while, things got so paranoid, and my boss wondered innocently:
Are you sure we'll be alive on Jan 1st? Our hearts and brains are Y2K OK?
Made us all laugh then.. but if these GPS pacemakers were around, we wouldn't have been laughing surely.
You've got to wonder... (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Wildlife? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:You've got to wonder... (Score:3, Insightful)
Paranoid parents wanting to know their children's location at all times?
I hope not.
Of all the possible blunders of parenting that exist, I think that parents, training their children to expect omniscient monitoring, zero privacy, heavy interrogation, and heavy discipline as a substitute for earlier, time-consuming, caring, training to be a responsible person, is one of the scariest ways to construct a future society.
It's the kind of society that I don't want to live in.
Re:You've got to wonder... (Score:3, Insightful)
> Of all the possible blunders of parenting that exist, I think that parents, training their children to expect omniscient monitoring, zero privacy, heavy interrogation, and heavy discipline
Chip '
Practical (good) applications (Score:2)
For the military: tracking down wounded soldiers to bring them back to medical facilities or locating captured/MIAs.
For explorers or other remote personel: tracking down wounded or missing explorers (people still die in jungles, the outback, while hiking in the mountains, etc.)
For legal defense: a lot of people are worried that the government will be able to track them; this is a good thing if y
Website?? (Score:2)
Apart from the terrible Flash thingie on the frontpage, something else struck me with this website.
Top left corner. Happy white couple. Take a look at the lower right corner.. a dog, a chinese boy and a black boy. Where I come from, likening chinese and blacks with dogs are racist.
I want more proof of racism (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Website?? (Score:2)
Is that racist or funny?
My friend next to me laughed...
No problems for politicians... (Score:2, Funny)
Inject it into criminals (Score:2)
Re:Inject it into criminals (Score:2)
Under the age of 16(whatever the age a minor is in your country) track them for safety. Remove them after they reach a certain age.
Convicted pedophiles/sex offenders could also be tracked so as to help police/community keep them away from children (see above paragraph). Ability to see how close to kids they get.
I ha
Re:Inject it into criminals (Score:2)
and combined with an electronic zapper fitted inside their testicles so that if they get within 100 yards of a school/children's playground, they drop to their knees screaming
Re:Inject it into criminals (Score:2)
Contrasts with:
Under the age of 16(whatever the age a minor is in your country) track them for safety.
Implant them in all kids, and pretty soon you'll have a whole population who has never lived without them. "Why should I get this removed? It's done me no harm so far."
And so it goes. One or two generations...and everyone has them, all the time.
Re:Inject it into criminals (Score:5, Insightful)
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?
Mapping (Score:3, Interesting)
I can't wait.... (Score:2)
You'll never again have prolems... (Score:2, Funny)
Am I the only one.. (Score:2, Funny)
Come to think of it, a Colt-shaped GPS reciever would look impressive..
Re:Am I the only one.. (Score:2)
Yeah, some people might think that, but it really seems more like something the Skarrans would use.
Great. Now I have to line my whole suit with tinfoil, not just my hat.
Re:Am I the only one.. (Score:2)
"Frankly in all this excitement I forgot to sync my GPS... I could be 10 meters to your right, 10 meters to your left, or right in front of you. You feeling lucky punk?"
After reading the article... (Score:5, Insightful)
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).
Uh... High-Risk Countries??? (Score:4, Interesting)
What the hell is a "high-risk" country and why would they want such device?
Re:Uh... High-Risk Countries??? (Score:3, Funny)
America of course! After all, if a third world two bit one camel country like Iraq is a serious threat, so is half of the rest of the world.
And don't forget the French!
Hostage recovery guys must Unionise against this (Score:2)
You do not want ex-SAS people who kill heavily armed guerillas, employing nothing but a leatherman wave and a tightly puckered lower-bowel, to be just sitting around in their houses with nothing to do all day.
Via the internet! (Score:2, Interesting)
Sorry, but that sounds like one of these post-modern patent applications. "Via the internet" ... wooo-hoo!
I hardly think anyone's building a device a tenth of the size of a pacemaker that will continuously transmit "ASL"-data (or whatever) to a satellite, or even the cell phone network. Bluetooth, WLAN, whatever, yea, but I don't expect to see anyone being tracked across the
Ummmm..... (Score:2, Funny)
What does internal rechargable mean? You don't have to take it out to recharge it? Where do you plug in the power cord at night?
can wirelessly transmit location, movements and vital signs
User number 4859932 has had 8 orgasms while sitting in front of computer. Net logs show massive pr0n downloads during same time frame.
Could also be used to track the movements of a spouse/SO if you think something is up. "Hone
Re:Ummmm..... (Score:2, Informative)
I know your post was to be funny but the article says that "The induction-based power-recharging method is similar to that used to recharge implantable pacemakers. This recharging technique functions without requiring any physical connection between the power source and the implant."
Just in case you actually DID wonder. This means
Re:Ummmm..... (Score:2)
which is exactly what the article [adsx.com] says.
which also implies that unless they've built a self reseting circuit breaker into the pacemaker sized device, it would be trivial to knock it out with a big ass alternating magnetic field
Hmm, DRM for people. (Score:4, Insightful)
Submit to the chip, join The Club - or live on the outside. Very scary.
Re:Hmm, DRM for people. (Score:2)
Three Words (Score:2)
Cashless Society / 666 (Score:3, Insightful)
It seems odd that John would come up with the idea that you would have to have a mark (I'm told it means "etching, as with a needle" in the Greek, but I'm sure some Greek-speaking-geek here can probably shoot that down if it isn't correct) to buy and sell. I'm sure he was thinking of it as a tatoo that they would merely look at, before allowing you to use your cash. He probably wasn't thinking of a "cashless society", but I've often heard people talk about the benefits of a cashless society (thwart drug-dealers, kidnappers, extortion rings, etc). Supposedly, we'd all start with a "debit card" arrangement. But they could be stolen or forged. An implanted chip would be harder to fake.
As a starting point to mandatory chipping, I've heard people suggest that you would chip criminals, aliens, and of course, "the scum of the earth".... gun owners! If you want to own a gun, you must get a tracking chip! Small price to pay for a "privilege" that the government lets you have...
I'm not saying that D.A. would be the Mark, just that it sounds hauntingly familiar... that similar technology could be used for that purpose.
So most readers here probably don't read or believe the Bible, but if you see it happen someday..... think about it.
dochood
How do I interface to it. (Score:4, Funny)
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".
homeland security (Score:5, Insightful)
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...)
Big deal (Score:2)
Santa's been doing that for years.
That means, instead every year we'll be going to Tom Ridge to ask for a an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time. [imdb.com]
Novels based on similar technology (Score:2)
http://www.sfwriter.com/exho.htm
Really good trilogy so far and it raises the question whether no privacy can benefit a society.
Re:Some food for the conspiracy theorist among us (Score:5, Funny)
Frightening abuse: Your girlfriend/boyfriend/significant other keeping track of you.
Star Trek, anyone? (Score:2)
I've often wondered how crewmembers on Star Trek are able to have their vital stats read aloud by the computer (see the Picard & Beverly scene in the TNG episode Remember Me [startrek.com] )... Perhaps something like this would be necessary? While their communicators could relay position, I'm not so sure that they are responsible for vital stats. Any more exper
And some legit uses... (Score:2)
Ever see on your local news elderly persons who wander off and are confused due to dementia or alzheimer's? They frequently don't come back alive. Their personal rights have been signed off and a nursing home (wary of being sued when they loose one of their charges) might make it a condition upon entry.
And of course, for every geek that wants to make him/herself into the borg.
But, for every good reason, there will be many more p
Go America! (Score:5, Insightful)
Short term use (Score:2)
Okay, so when... (Score:2)
Very impractical.... (Score:3, Informative)
Something embedded transmitting vital signs and GPS will use a reasonable amount of power. Batteries can't hack it because rechargeables need replacement after one to two years. Its no problem if it is something to help you live (i.e., a pacemaker), otherwise would you really want the thing replaced so often?
Personally, I think this is just a project to get Homeland Insecurity money and VC funding.
Been there, done that. (Score:3, Informative)
Big potential use (Score:3, Insightful)
Seriously; the health monitoring industry isn't that small. What if you could implant a device in your alzheimers patient grandfather, so he couldn't forget to put it on, and you could always find him if he wandered away, and an instant 911 call went out if he started having an irregular heartbeat, crazy blood pressure, etc.
I think this thing has some SERIOUSLY good potential uses. But as typical on slashdot, every technology is only seen in the most paranoid possible way. Hey, it's a good idea to think of how new technologies can be abused, but get real; the mere existance of this technology does not immediately create a police state in which everyone can be forced to have the chip implanted. It's society that decides whether such a thing can happen to law-abiding citizens (and yes, who is defined as "law-abiding").
Technology is neither good nor bad, nor does it promote good or bad behavior. It may enable a behavior but it does not, on its own, immediately cause a police state or any other societal change, unless and until society is ready to change.
Non-law-abiding citizens already have this, it's called a radio collar.
Great solution for pedophiles !! (Score:3, Interesting)
In the UK, convicted pedophiles are held on a nation wide sex register for life. When ever they move town they have to register their whereabouts with the police. Despite this, many of them re-offend and the cost is sometimes a childs life and devastated family/community.
So it strikes me that this would be a great help in the battle against habitual pedophiles. If on release from prison they were legally chipped and their location tracked 24hrs, then the incidents of death by re-offenders should drop dramatically.
And yeah I know, its a breach of human rights, blah blah. But IMO, anyone who sexually violates a child for their own gratification forfeits their claim to the rights that the rest of us enjoy. And there are millions of parents all over the world who'd sleep better at night.
Macka
just a thought (Score:3, Insightful)
And then my head began to hurt. It has always fascinated me how some technologies are vilified BECAUSE of their potential for abuse, whereas others are idolized DESPITE their potential for abuse. Which is right? I don't have the answer, but I do know its fun to watch.
And no, I'm not suggesting that Big Brother watching my every move is in any way equivalent to me downloading the latest Britney Spears via p2p. Although if I'm listening to Ms. Spears, maybe someone SHOULD keep an eye on me
Won't Work for Tracking Crooks (Score:4, Informative)
Hi!
We explored the issues involved with tracking humans for a client [etrackerinc.com] 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.
Re:You might call me paranoid... (Score:5, Insightful)
x-rays would tend to show if people had a GPS device with antennea implanted in them
Re:You might call me paranoid... (Score:2)
There are many that say ``If you don't want the police to know, you must be guilty of something.''
Re:You might call me paranoid... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:You might call me paranoid... (Score:2, Informative)
True, but you'd be hard pressed to create an electronic device that would not show up in an MRI. Any metal at all would create field distortion--and the plastic parts of the device would show up in the field as different from surrounding tissue.
Also, I don't think these would be undetectable by PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scanners--they find everything, including that chewing gum you swallowed a few months ago...
Paranoia and conspiracy (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Dick Cheney (Score:2)
Re:BigBrother (Score:4, Interesting)
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 [bbc.co.uk] 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 [cryptome.org] to an official European Union report into the routine monitoring of the internet and telephone networks by Echelon [echelonwatch.org].
This new thing isn't anything to fear. You should be scared already.