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RFID Hell 234

Posted by CmdrTaco from the one-for-the-mainstream dept.
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."
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RFID Hell More

RFID Hell

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  • Article has nothing to do with RFID tags (Score:5, Informative)

    by Shoden ( 94398 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @09:16AM (#7017258)
    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.

    • Re:Article has nothing to do with RFID tags (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Indeed, the article is *not* about RFID. More importantly, the device described is intended for tracking paedophiles. No Orwellian conspiracy here, although there are some civil rights issues to be considered in addition to whether or not the tech meets its intended goals.

    • Re:Article has nothing to do with RFID tags (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Karamchand ( 607798 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @09:39AM (#7017373)
      True that this article has nothing to do with RFID, but just FYI there are many active RFID tags as well. The larger one which are used for highway tolls in some countries for example. Passive tags usually don't have this large range.
      • passive rfid tags have many many possitive uses as well. For every good bit of technology someone will always find a way to abuse it

      • Tollway tags are mostly passive. (Score:5, Informative)

        by Svartalf ( 2997 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @11:32AM (#7018025) Homepage
        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.
  • 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.

  • Gattaca (Score:2, Troll)

    by vigilology ( 664683 )
    IIRC the technology in Gattaca presented a good use. Perhaps not the best example movie?

    • ?? Using DNA samples to determine your career path and social status is a good use?

    • No (Score:4, Insightful)

      by TrekkieGod ( 627867 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @09:24AM (#7017310) Homepage Journal
      The technology in Gattaca prevented anyone not "genetically perfect" from living in normal society. It's the reason the main character had to fake his identity, and go through all the hoops to fool that technology. And his only "flaw" was a genetic high risk for heart disease, although he was perfectly healthy.

      What's good about that?

      • Ethan Hawke's character was not perfectly healthy. We hear this in the scene where he is exercising and his heartbeat transmitter malfunctions and begins broadcasting his real heartbeat. After that scene, he runs to the locker room and collapses, gasping for air.
        • I always assumed he collapsed gasping from air because he knew how close he'd come to being discovered, not from exhaustion.

          After all, you do see him doing upside down sit-ups with a heavy weight... surely he can handle the run, just with a higher heart rate than his "perfect" DNA should have resulted in.

  • I don't want to believe this, but I do anyway (Score:4, Insightful)

    by nenya ( 557317 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @09:18AM (#7017270) Homepage
    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.
    • An 'average' RFID tag/reader combo will barely read at 20cm in ideal conditions (no metal). So I give you my devide, I call it AIR (tm). Simply fill the room with a spray can full of AIR(tm) and disable all those pesky tags.

      Seriously, RFID is an improvement on bar code scanners, the potential for abuse is there because the tags can be quite small and the reader can be less obvious than a CueCat but it's still, essentially, the same kind of technology. Maybe RFID technology will improve dramatically and

  • Its inevitable... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Sonnenschein ( 701061 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @09:20AM (#7017275)
    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.

    • Re:Panic Shmanic (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Cade144 ( 553696 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @09:46AM (#7017389) Homepage

      I'm sure the first fire starters were considered sorcerers...

      Yes they were. Have you ever read the myth of Prometheus, and how the gods punished man by giving him woman, in the form of Pandora?

      Here [bulfinch.org] or Here [sdsu.edu] you can get the story.

      Oh, yes I do agree that technology is neutral. The problem seems to be that humans are not.

  • in Homeland Security means the terrorists have won. Hysterical whining about "civil liberties" or "Constitutional protections" or things like that show your enemy combatant status. Just 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.

  • RTFA... old technology (Score:5, Interesting)

    by NumLk ( 709027 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @09:21AM (#7017287)
    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.
    • Very well put. Sorry I already replied in this thread and can't give you mod points, so I have to just give props.

      Criminal tracking wile on parole, if parole times are 'reasonable', is probably acceptable. Tracking convicted criminals for life isn't. After you've done the crime and served the crime, in theory, that kind of puts you back into the innocent camp again, doesn't it?

  • The last comment is revealing (Score:5, Insightful)

    by OeLeWaPpErKe ( 412765 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @09:21AM (#7017288) Homepage

    '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.

    • Re:The last comment is revealing (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      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.

      And I believe that sex offenders are being used as the red herring that they typically are. Imagine when speeders are picked up every time there's an offense committed, or when suspected drug dealers are tracked via RFID/GPS to where they were visiting a suspected "crackhouse," or when [insert potential criminals here] are arraigned just for

    • Re:The last comment is revealing (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Timesprout ( 579035 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @09:57AM (#7017430)
      Thats pretty normal procedure to round up the usual suspects when an offence is committed.

      With regard to the article though in the UK they have an almost pathological condition when it come to peadophiles. Its seems in most cases no punishment is enough. People wrongly suspected of being peadophiles have been murdered, and those convicted are essentially branded for life. There have also been calls for a suspected offenders list, an idea so wide open to abuse its staggering, no proof required, just allegation and you are stigmatised for life.

      Its a disgusting crime but it needs proper treatment by the courts and legal system, not the continual erosion of rights we are seeing today. However its such an emotive issue most people are prepared to dispense with common sense when it comes to child abuse, much as in the way The Patriot legislation did not seem quite so restrictive in the emotional aftermath of 9/11. Who will be next ? Drug dealers, then gangsters then perhaps people with too many points on their driving license.

      Big Brother will want to watch us all eventually.

  • Obligatory "they started with..." quote (Score:5, Interesting)

    by aepervius ( 535155 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @09:23AM (#7017301)
    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...
    • Actually it should be more like...

      They started with the pedophiles and I did not speak out because I was not a pedophile.

      Then they went on murder condemned and I did not speak out because I was not murder condemned.

      Then they went on tagging all former felons and I did not speak out because I was not a former felon.

      Then they tagged people with bad social pasts and juvenile arrests and I did not speak out because I didn't have a bad social past or a juvenile arrest.

      Then they tagged immigrants

    • Re:Obligatory "they started with..." quote (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Baron_Yam ( 643147 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @10:46AM (#7017745)

      This is not a good argument against taking the first step... it is a good argument for watching very closely to make sure the last four steps are never taken.

      After all, we've already decided to lock up murderers... and by this logic I'll be eventually be locked up as well.

      • This is not a good argument against taking the first step... it is a good argument for watching very closely to make sure the last four steps are never taken.

        Oh really?

        And why should this be done to child molesters, but not in cases of domestic abuse? Surely we need this tracking to protect the spouse and children.

        And why should this be done to child molesters, but not to killers? Surely getting killed is worse than getting abused?

        And why should this be done to child molesters, but not to drug dealers?

  • Not RFID (Score:2, Interesting)

    by MstrFool ( 127346 )
    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

    • Re:Not RFID (Score:2, Interesting)

      by dachshund ( 300733 )
      but so long as it is restricted to people on probation as stated

      Actually, the article is vague on this point. It doesn't specifically say that the individuals to be tracked are on probation; rather, it offhandedly mentions that these tags will be useful for probation officers.

      Can anyone clarify?

      • The impression I got was that our paedo brothers would be forced to wear this, irrespective of whether they were still on probation. I quote: 'if they have been released, they should be free to live their life in liberty. This muddies the waters between guilt and innocence,' said Mark Littlewood, campaigns director of Liberty.

        The other article I read on the subject - in the Sunday Herald [sundayherald.com] - implies more strongly that it is only for those on probation, but at the same time presents a much scarier view of th

  • From the article (Score:4, Funny)

    by VampireByte ( 447578 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @09:33AM (#7017349) Homepage
    "Sky Guardian will unveil the first electronic device made specifically to track paedophiles at this month's Labour party conference and is to test the technology on a volunteer MP this week"

    I wonder how many paedophile MPs will volunteer for this?

  • Is this really the solution ? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Gori ( 526248 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @09:35AM (#7017357) Homepage
    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...
    • " 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? "

      No, the problem is the children. You see, pedophiles would have no targets if there were not children. And everytime I see some politician cry out "THINK OF THE CHILRDREN!" I think to myself....hey....we wouldn't have this

    • Why do we have child molesters in the first place is the question that should be asked IMHO.

      It's a sexual preference. You know, like being straight, gay, bi, whatever.

      I just wonder whether we are dealing with it in the right way...

      We almost certainly aren't, but the complete inability of 99% of the population to discuss the issue rationally makes it highly unlikely this situation is going to change.

  • Tracking (Score:3, Insightful)

    by t_allardyce ( 48447 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @09:36AM (#7017363) Journal
    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.
  • 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.

  • Some lateral thought here... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by khenson ( 706671 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @09:42AM (#7017378)
    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...

  • Neither RFID nor abuse (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mwa ( 26272 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @10:00AM (#7017447)
    The article is discussing GPS tracking of volunteer pedophiles. From the article:

    • '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 is /. It's our right to be wrong out of ignorance and adamantly maintain that ignorance regardless of what the referenced article says!
    • The article is discussing GPS tracking of volunteer pedophiles. From the article:

      Who would volunteer to be a pedophile???
    • Who cares? I could submit an anti-RFID article that references a report from the Weather Channel, and it would get posted here!

      Now all we need is a "Microsoft rolling out RFID initiative in partnership with SCO" and things will really start humming...
  • Outfit sex offenders with these and apply electroshock whenever they're about to commit a vice crime -> Pavlov unleashed!

    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;

  • technology issues in posted responses (Score:5, Insightful)

    by chipwich ( 131556 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @10:39AM (#7017685)
    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.

  • obligatory (Score:3, Funny)

    by John Harrison ( 223649 ) <(moc.liamg) (ta) (nosirrahnhoj)> on Sunday September 21, 2003 @10:42AM (#7017716) Homepage Journal
    I for one welcome our new RFID overlords...

    Oh wait, the article had nothing to do with RFID? I mean, of course I knew that. I was merely joking.

  • so.... (Score:3, Funny)

    by utexaspunk ( 527541 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @10:45AM (#7017736)
    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
  • 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.
  • ...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...

  • Technology threats vs. Policy threats (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Shoten ( 260439 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @11:49AM (#7018156)
    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.
    • The real question is this: what are the odds that the powers-that-be will implement these new capabilities in a way that will balance the Constitution requirements with the legitimate needs of law enforcement (whatever they claim those are today) without significant erosion of civil liberties? It is a crap shoot, but the odds are definitely not in our favor.
      • No, this has never been a question; that's why we have a Constitution in the first place. You speak as though there have never before been technologies that were prone to abuse by government; this is as far from the truth as possible. There have always been periods of time when abuse has been widespread, but in time the tide shifts and goes back; look at the days of McCarthyism, or the late 60s and COINTELPRO/MKULTRA and their like, to name two such eras. Then look at what happened to the abusing organiz
        • Perhaps ... but those technologies are far more pervasive in the modern world and far more prone to convenient abuse. Part of what has traditionally protected us from excessive monitoring and invasions of our privacy has been the expense of doing so. Standard wiretaps are resource-intensive and so aren't used that frequently. Even so, abuses occur regularly: see the recent fiasco in the Los Angeles District Attorney's department.

          That has all changed: the FBI has been lobbying for several years to forc

  • This is much needed (Score:3, Interesting)

    by puzzled ( 12525 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @11:51AM (#7018170) Journal
    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.
    • " Pedophiles *aren't* in control of their actions. Think repeat offender drunk drivers - they just *can't* control their behavior."

      Now THIS kind of talk pisses me off. First, read the definition [reference.com] of pedophile on Websters. Now, explain to me where in that definition it states that they can't control their actions? What's that? It doesn't say anything about that? Well, DUH. That's because pedophilia is not a disorder that makes you go out and molest children. It is a disorder which makes you ATTRACTED

  • 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...

  • Finally?!!! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by revans ( 253178 ) *
    >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.

  • Scary Part (Score:5, Insightful)

    by johnos ( 109351 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @01:05PM (#7018723)
    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 [precrime.org].

    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?
  • 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
  • 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. [guardian.co.uk]

    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 a
  • 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.

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