Sunday, January 13, 2008

Prisoners to be "chipped"

Shaun Saunders sends in an article from the Independant, an online magazine in the UK.
He prefaces the article with this comment:

Somewhere past tomorrow, where private thoughts are dangerous, and prisons don't have bars, is... Mallcity 14...

Here is a cut from the article:

(Officials) are planning to implant "machine-readable" microchips under the skin of thousands of offenders as part of an expansion of the electronic tagging scheme that would create more space in British jails. Amid concerns about the security of existing tagging systems and prison overcrowding, the Ministry of Justice is investigating the use of satellite and radio-wave technology to monitor criminals. The tiny chips would be surgically inserted under the skin of offenders in the community, to help enforce home curfews.

Click here for the complete article

3 comments:

Robert M. Blevins said...

I wrote a short story on this subject (sci-fi) many years ago, showing what happens with the last guy on the planet who refuses to get 'chipped'.

I think Paul Cole is in possession of this story in that 'telephone book' ('A Question of Balance') I sent him last week...

Story title: 'Final Demand'.

Anonymous said...

Hi Robert,

Sounds like a great story - I'd like to hear it one day (hint - Paul)

Seems we have something in common with writing about chipping - I covered it in my Mallcity 14 book and a heap of spin-off stories from that universe. The idea still makes my skincrawl...but I'm very glad that people are writing about it :-)

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Ah thats what is at the station! lol the manager called today and said that I had something in my show's mailbox. The weather has again turned frightful here, but I promise the first chance I get, I will get in and and take a look. Thanks