[Politech] Mexican cops get themselves chipped

From: Declan McCullagh (declan@private)
Date: Mon Aug 16 2004 - 14:22:29 PDT


http://www.hacer.org/current/Mex064.php

Law enforcement in Mexico goes a bit bionic
By Monica Campbell

MEXICO CITY . Crime has become such a problem in Mexico that the
government has created a fleet of cyborgs to fight it. Call them
Mexico's "Robocops."

Sure, the transformation of the 170 or so law-enforcement officials
isn't as dramatic as the 1987 movie, where the protagonist was part
man, mostly machine. The Mexican officials have been injected with a
microchip the size of a grain of rice. Implanted beneath the skin of
their arms, it allows them to access a high-level crime database and,
they hope, track them if they're kidnapped...

The chip comes from VeriChip, a subsidiary of Applied Digital
Solutions of Palm Beach, Fla. The device is nonremovable (though it
can be deactivated) and is slipped under the skin in seconds via a
syringe-like device. The chip costs $200, plus $50 a year, in addition
to the scanner and software. The technology has existed for years and
was originally developed to let pet owners identify stray animals.

The chip sits dormant under the skin and is only "awakened" by a
scanner using radio- frequency identification, or RFID. The scanner
emits a signal that powers the chip, allowing it to send its
identification number. Then, depending on the configuration of the
database that is hooked up to the scanner, a door is opened or a
database unlocked, the way an ID card allows employees into the
office.

[...]
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