Wayne Chirnside wrote in a message to Roy J. Tellason:

-=> ROY J. TELLASON wrote to WAYNE CHIRNSIDE <=-

 RJT> Wayne Chirnside wrote in a message to Matt Mc_carthy:

 WC> Not to fear however as when we all have chips implanted locatable
 WC> by satellite the "Department of Information Awareness" will clear
 WC> this all up because the government is too moral and ethical to
 WC> abuse such information.

 RJT> Implanted chips?

 WC> It's not far off. in  fact "digital Angel", an implantable locator 
 WC> chip  is already here :-( 

I've heard of it.  Posted about it over in 10TH_AMD...

 WC> Not however compulsory... yet. Currently Florida is looking into 
 WC> global positioning devices in cars to move the highway maintanance 
 WC> gas tax from the gas pump to actual mileage usage by such 
 WC> monitoring.

I'd heard that they were doing that now in Oregon.  Which doesn't take into
account such things as off-road use,  cars being towed,  and assorted other
circumstances,  not to mention the potential for abuses.

 WC> I scarcely see the difference in this proposal as far as highway 
 WC> maintanance except gas guzzling SUV's and commecial big rigs would 
 WC> appear to benefit as the greater costs were transferred to those 
 WC> driving gas efficient vehicles.

Yep.  As it is _now_,  a whole lot of those big rigs already have satellite
locating setups in them,  capable of simple messaging and finding missing
trucks.  I knew a guy who was into installing those for a while.  This one
driver got a real big surprise when he decided to take a truck to go visit
his girlfriend in New Jersey,  when they showed up to arrest him!

 WC> Privacy issues are another matter :-( 

Yes indeed.

 WC> The Department of Information Awareness is requiring every bit of 
 WC> information about every citizen right down to medical records and 
 WC> DNA, other personal information is supposed to soon be encoded 
 WC> into drivers licenses.

Gee,  I wonder what that big magnet did to the strip on the back of the one
I'm carrying now...?

 WC> How far off could the compulsory implanted locator chip be? It'll 
 WC> be sold as for our own good and security of course but what such 
 WC> controls once put into place have not been widely abused? Remember 
 WC> when the Soviet Union was bad for requiring travel papers? Now 
 WC> we're on the verge of the government knowing when you go to  
 WC> K-Mart or the local 7-11.

I don't think that people as a whole will put up with that in this country.
 No doubt some will,  but not all,  not by a long shot.

 RJT> Yeah.  I get to that point,  and it'll be time for a new subscription
 RJT> -- to "Suture Self,  the magazine of home surgery..."

 WC> I've a better idea, a personal EMP device, and just fry the chip
 WC> taking you off the GPS _radar_.

That'll work too.

 WC> Such a device need not be at all difficult to build due to the 
 WC> close proximity and simple designs widely available on the web. 
 WC> Seems to me soon the only people not locatable in the U.S. may be 
 WC> terrorists who sneak in while law abiding citizens will be easily 
 WC> tracked :-(

Some of them.

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