Prisoners To Be Chip-Tagged Like Animals January 14, 2008
Read more Gadgets , Gizmodo UK , Technology , Wireless
Ever since hanging and deportation were banned as methods of dealing with society’s undesirables, the UK powers that be have been searching for a new way of dealing with the trash.
According to reports today, UK ministers think radio frequency identification (RFID) tags could be it and are drawing up plans to have prisoners surgically tagged with RFID chips under the skin. This is certainly a controversial step up from the dodgy RFID bracelets in use today.
The idea is that this kind of tagging could help create more space in UK jails and enforce community orders like home curfew via satellite. Similar tagging is already used on cats, dogs and airport luggage but this would be the first time it would be used on prisoners in the UK.
A senior Ministry of Justice source, speaking to The Independent, said: “We have wanted to take advantage of this technology for several years, because it seems a sensible solution to the problems we are facing in this area. We have looked at it and gone back to it and worried about the practicalities and the ethics, but when you look at the challenges facing the criminal justice system, it's time has come.”
More than 17,000 criminals are subject to electronic monitoring now via bracelets but almost 2,000 of them manage to evade monitoring by tampering with the devices.
No doubt this plan to tag criminals like dogs will spark some lively debate.-Martin Lynch
Editor and Contributor | Martin Lynch
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Comments
I think it is a great idea considering the amount of re-offenders, this would at least help with capturing people who have already been into prisons and once released end up comitting further offences
More definately needs to be done to combat the problem but I dont think this Orwellian nightmare is the answer.
How long before they're chipping the rest of us, "for owr own safety and to protect our freedom"?
Someone should tell them 1984 was a warning, not an instruction manual.
Please note that only the Independent is reporting this. I think they've managed to get a quote from an individual nutter (or just made it up). There's not even a hint of this being suggested anywhere else. Probably, because it's even less practical than the tags that they can't get to work properly at the moment.
^^ Ooops, hit enter before I'd wrote my comment ^^
Anyway, if it's the Independant then it's probably just their dream for the future.
Still, it's a scary prospect.
Google "VeriChip" to see how real it already is in the good ol US of A.
Now, where did I leave my tin-foil hat?
Whats to stop offenders from getting a sharp knife and removing their chips?
why is the headline
"Prisoners To Be Chip-Tagged Like Animals"
it should read
"Prisoners To Be Chip-Tagged Like Criminals"
the scum sucking idiots should just get put down.
How will this be more tamper proof than the bracelets? For safety reasons these chips are injected just below the skin, 10 seconds with a scalpel and it's out.
They have given up the right to be treated as normal human beings.If they do the crime they have whats coming to them.
I think this is a good idea - don't do the crime and all that.
AS for removing it, OK it would be possible - but I'm pretty sure people are less likely to cut themselves up than take off an ankle bracelet!
I love the idea. Though one probably should address the problems of skimming/duplication and potential cancer risks (The Washington Post, 8 Sep 2007) before injecting them into violent crims.
i think they should be implanted into the genitalia with tamper ink like security boxes, that way if they cut them out they will have blue balls for life
You are such a sexist don, you are assuming all criminals are male, there are female criminals too. Would anyone mind a blue p**sy?
Bad move. Starts with (some) criminals who are also people and at some point will be released having served sentence. Are tags then removed? What of people who get convictions quashed?
Then ask what's next? Tag children so we can track them, mental patients, all patients, all of us. I mean why carry ID cards if you can insert a chip? Graft it onto a bone so it's hard to remove and use it for everything from travel permits to purchasing.
This is a really really bad idea. Obvious risks of surgical infections allergies. criminals can no longer have MRI done. Rights to privacy blown out the window.potential for abuse and misuse and government control. could be removed or jammed easily. This is just a really bad idea for everyone. I could see it's use for child predators maybe but I still favor surgical castration over microchips.