UK jails considering RFID tags
RFID tagging for prisoners is something the UK Government is currently looking into.
We have just been contacted by a Ministry of Justice spokesperson who has claimed that this story is bogus. "There is no truth in this story - not only is this proposal impractical but there are health and other implications that make it not worth pursuing," he said.
The rest of the story has remained in its original form below.
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Just because we're in 2008 now doesn't mean it can't also be 1984, you know. Or so the UK Government may think as they consider a proposal to introduce sub-dermal RFID tags for prisoners released onto the streets.
The proposal is one of a number of ways put forward by the government as a method of tackling the massively overcrowded prisons in the UK. The RFID tags would, in theory, be implanted under the skin of certain prisoners and would be a replacement for the ankle-tags currently used for some offenders. The idea would then be to monitor the location of the tagged inmates using satellite and radio technology according to The Independent.
As always there are certain groups opposing the tagging method.
"If the Home Office doesn't understand why implanting a chip in someone is worse than an ankle bracelet, they don't need a human-rights lawyer; they need a common-sense bypass," said Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights group Liberty.
The Ministry of Justice however is more keen on the idea and has said this is one method of inmate control they would very much like to pursue.
How do you feel about RFID tagging? Is it feasible and acceptable, or are we just a year or two away from everybody being monitored and tracked with tags? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.
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sad thing is I can actually see that happening. It will start out as being part of the ID card then some bright spark will come up with the money saving idea of not having to issue or replace lost cards by you guessed just implanting the tag when a babys born the midwife does the weighing of the child cleaning of the child then the implanting of the child how long before it would become an accepted and everyday practice
I'm my opinion, certain prisoners give up their "Human Rights" when they commititted their acts. I see no reason why they shouldn't be "Tagged" in this manner.
It shouldn't be used on anyone else though, as that would be a "Human Rights" issue.
To me this is the problem with most Human Right systems!
Murderers have the right to live!
A Thief has the right of ownership!
A Guy or woman who rapes has the right to pay his dues and possibly rape again! Cut it off I say!
Who will then stop this guy from running his drug operation from his house, or ordering a hit on a witness or just intimidating the people that prosecuted him!
Where is the justice for the victim?
The problem with space is the Human rights, The Cell must be this size! He must be able to read! He must have light! He must have his own toilet!
All a bunch of #$^%$@#, if you ask me!
criminals are still human......
That said I'd take the position, very robustly, that this sort of thing needs to be watched like a hawk. What I think we actually need is a subdermal RFID which can be deactivated. That'd be rather good, because you could then use it for all manner of ID situations, from getting cash out of an ATM upward. Impossible to lose or forget and at least messy to steal, although it does bring to mind the possibility of rather macabre instances of identity theft.
Obviously, you would need to be able to deactivate it externally and independently prove that it was deactivated.
I thought that was part of the problem, jails are overcrowded and making more costs the tax payer loads more money.
As for their human right i say bol££x to it, stick the tags in them and see what happens, but maybe only to those with the most serious crimes, rape, murder, etc etc, then if it works, those convicted of theft and things like that can have them put in and released into the community to serve their sentence helping the community. But I also think corporal punishment/death penalty should be implemented in the UK too...i guess its people like me that mean human rights activists exist, and therefore an equilibrium is reached.
Note: I wonder if a human rights campaigner who has been raped might change her/his mind about the situation if suddenly they arent unbiased but instead harbor a hatred against that person that might alter the way they think about the world. Please note, i am not wishing that upon anyone, rape is one of the most horrifying crimes known to man and warrants death, not release after 10 years imo, the situlation was purely hypothetical as at times i fail to understand certain logics/thought patterns of those campaigning for such 'righteous' causes, maybe i am too cynical and too quick to see the bad in people and draw -ve judgement?
peace
fatman
having them walking around (with or without rfid chips) cant really be the solution though... i mean there must be a way to make it cheaper with other means than having them on the street.
death penalty woudnt help either, because look at countries that have it, theres still crime.
I this the whole idea behind the tagging is that criminals with lesser crimes would be put under house arrest people a little more trust worthy to be allowed on the streets at all. Think a murderer would think twice about cutting it out of his arm?
Everybody knows Texas has no murder crimes.....
you do know that RFID passports can only be read when opened........
Let me say that again: RFID can not be used as a GPS tracker replacement. It's a short-range technology designed to embed a few kilobytes of data into products and devices - effectively a barcode on steroids. Like a barcode, it's insecure by design, and can be read by any standard off-the-shelf equipment that costs only a couple grand if that. This kind of move is yet another slippery slope approach to Minority Report-esque advertising. It's a solution to one problem that shouldn't exist being touted as a solution to an entirely different non-problem.
I know what they can do now and whats in development for the future ;)
That'll learn 'em.
evereyone knows that they can not read your brain if your wearing a foil hat :)
and remember post Pics of hat lol