Saudi files for 'killer' tracking chip patent

Saudi files for 'killer' tracking chip patent(thelocal.de)

9 points by bsgamble 17 years ago | 11 comments

bayareaguy 17 years ago |

the invention will probably be found to violate paragraph two of the German Patent Law – which does not allow inventions that transgress public order or good morals

I didn't know German Patent Law worked this way. I wonder if this clause has any actual effect. Is the actual manufacture and use of such inventions also prohibited or does this just mean that nobody in Germany can have a monopoly on such things?

dhs 17 years ago | |

That paragraph lists exceptions to patentability - inventions that infringe on "public order" or "moral conventions". In particular listed are human cloning, methods to modify the human germline, industrial use of human embryos and modification of animal germlines which cause suffering to the animals without providing any medical benefits for animals or humans. So every invention that can be used to breed a master race is explicitly non-patentable, plus there's a blanket formulation that can be extended to mean "anything the Nazis would have liked to have invented to make their job easier". An implant that poisons you when you don't follow the Führer would arguably fit right in there.

nop 17 years ago |

I can imagine a non-lethal version of that could be pitched to prisons in the future assuming it could be made to be reliable. No need for giant walls and several layers of perimeter when you have a virtual walls to keep the inmates from escaping.

dmix 17 years ago | |

I'd imagine implanted chips are more easily removed then it is to get out of a walled prison. Prisoners have devised clever ways to hide and remove things from their body in the past.

gojomo 17 years ago | |

Prisons beta-test surveillance/confinement/contraband policies for airports. Airports beta-test for schools. Schools beta-test for everywhere, in the next generation.

patrickg-zill 17 years ago |

Reminds me of the Bruce Sterling novel, "Heavy Weather" where the bad guys that work for the government have Rolex-like watches that have explosives in them permanently clamped to their wrists.

In the novel, when a force 6 storm goes through, they hang out in a bunker and one by one try to remove the watch/bomb so that they can then be free of coercion and also, untrackable in the future.

asciilifeform 17 years ago | |

There were at least two films which featured remote-controlled "bomb collars" for prisoners.

jbm 17 years ago |

This will doubtlessly cost me Karma - but all too often it seems as if my brothers are either living under tyranny or building implements that allow others to be subject to the same humiliation.

On the bright side, Science marches on!... if it helps shore up the corrupt local monarchies.

cvg 17 years ago | |

yeah, it's kind of scary. Fundamentalism (of any kind) and technology are a harsh mixture.

tptacek 17 years ago |

You know, the Saudi nationality is in the lede here, but god knows how many batshit crazy immoral ideas the USPTO has had to deal with over the years.

abecedarius 17 years ago |

Ethics besides, this patent as described is obvious to anyone who's read decades-old science fiction, like Neal Stephenson's _The Diamond Age_ (though he does use a more spectacular means than poison).