Update: Dept. of Homeland Security weighs forcing passengers to wear stun gun bracelets on airplanes
Back in March, Gadling blogged about a firearm training system, Lamperd, which had patented a bracelet that worked like a stun gun when activated. At the time, Lamperd was lobbying the Transportation Security Administration to make it mandatory for all airline passengers to wear one, with the thinking that it was the best way to thwart a terrorist.
Well, here's an update.
The Department of Homeland Security, ever the shepherds watching over their flocks, appears to be seriously weighing making this bracelet mandatory and has sent a letter to Lamperd encouraging the company to draft a formal proposal for integrating its bracelet into flight security.
That's right. Your tax dollars are funding the R&D arm of DHS, which wants to develop technology that acts essentially as a GPS attached to your wrist, allowing the government to track pretty much everywhere you go once you check in for your flight, and giving the flight crew the ability to waylay you if you get out of hand.
O.K., that might be overstating it: Officials say the bracelet would only be activated in the event of a terrorist attack. But still....
Here is a promotional video for the bracelet that piqued DHS's interest.
The Washington Times today quotes a letter from DHS's Paul S. Ruwaldt, of the Science and Technology Directorate, in which he writes to Lamperd saying, "To make it clear, we are interested in...the immobilizing security bracelet and look forward to receiving a written proposal."
The Times says the letter was written on Federal Aviation Administration letterhead.
The Times goes on to detail what the bracelet could do. It would:
- Eliminate the need to carry a boarding pass
- Contain personal data about you, including your travel history
- Monitor the whereabouts of both you and your luggage after check-in
- Employ Electro-Musclar Disruption technology that could immobilize a passenger for nearly 10 minutes
But seriously, I consider all this with some foreboding. I mean, slipping a bracelet on a little kid that could deliver a shock powerful enough to make an electronic dog fence zap seem like a pinprick is a scary thought. What if a flight attendant accidently activates one of them?
What do you think? Would mandatory bracelets like these make air travel safer, or is this just another way for the government to look over our shoulders?
What other strange things have been found on planes?
Click the image to read the bizarre story...
Filed under: Activism, United States, Airlines, Video, Airports, Consumer Activism
Reader Comments (Page 11 of 11)
Bozly Jul 9th 2008 7:47PM
"just bracelets that would imobilize while on board...rechargeables and blah, blah...and what about malfunctionings (like, mmm, consider your aircraft itself that deals with various (outsourced) maintainence problems and oh, in case of emergency and whoops....ARE YOU PEOPLE OUT OF YOUR MINDS TO EVEN CONSIDER THIS A GOOD IDEA ...THE TERRORISTA's HAVE WON , with so many so fearful and so willing to submit....OUTRAGEOUS, WARPED SENSIBILITIES and more !!!
Bozly Jul 9th 2008 7:39PM
"just bracelets that would imobilize while on board...rechargeables and blah, blah...and what about malfunctionings (like, mmm, consider your aircraft itself that deals with various (outsourced) maintainence problems and oh, in case of emergency and whoops....ARE YOU PEOPLE OUT OF YOUR MINDS TO EVEN CONSIDER THIS A GOOD IDEA ...THE TERRORISTA's HAVE WON , with so many so fearful and so willing to submit....OUTRAGEOUS, WARPED SENSIBILITIES and more !!!
Bozly Jul 9th 2008 7:46PM
Dare say, 95% of what is PERCEIVED as providing security is simple PSYCH-OUT, made to appear to calm the fears....truly consider all the various nonsense they HAVE implemented and figure it oput, IF DETERMINED CAN BE CONFIGURED TO GET AROUND !!!! You will NEVER EVER < EVER have TOTAL SECURITY, so those incharge opt to psyching you out into so much of this nonsense as IF it did accomplish much of anything !!! People SOooooooo FEARFUL and GRIPPED by fear, so wiling to submit to more and more....live free folks, and try to die free...this is another abusrdity that take away further principles of which we hold dear ...tragic, too many too willing and no comprehension of just what giving up !!! The terrorist/BinLaden WON, they have truly damaged the USA psyche and it shows !!!
Scott Womack Jul 10th 2008 12:04AM
I think this is revolting. (No pun intended.)
Every real decent American with any sense of the Bill of Rights should be outraged, and I'll tell you something more. Our Founding Fathers, if they were around today, would hunt down both the prospective manufacturers and the officials wanting proposals and hang them for treason.
We are not animals, we are not children, we are not cattle. We are PEOPLE, WE THE PEOPLE, and we have RIGHTS, until we LET them be swept right away without getting in these people's faces and stopping it.
I want to leave everyone with some food for thought. If this gets in place, and Lord I hope it NEVER does...why stop there? Why shouldn't the government then just require we keep it on at all times if we want to eat, if we want a paycheck, if we want to work, if we want to drive in our cars?
Why not just treat EVERYONE as a potential terrorist and turn society into a virtual dynamic concentratoin camp with the ILLUSION of freedom AS LONG AS....
Also, perhaps voltages of varying intensity will be applied along certain conditions. A minor zap if you have the wrong thought or say the wrong thing. Or you eat the wrong thing or smoke. Go to the wrong state without the right permit. ZAP! Another zap if your library book is late or you miss your car maintenance or are late paying a bill. How about zaps from your work chair if it is turned away from your computer more than 5% of the day, or go to the wrong website or even if you are in the toilet stall too long?
I guarantee you, you turn this country over to the people who want to start it on planes, and you will unleash the absolute worst tyrants the world has ever seen, and you will NEVER get your freedom back. DO NOT let this happen.
Nate Jul 10th 2008 12:35PM
AHA! so is this going to be how they speed up the TSA checkpoints. Go to the ticketing counter, get "strapped" in. Make any deviations on the way to security get a shock. Shampoo is in a 4 liter bottle? Thats a shock. Bitch about the TSA agent who is inspecting your "package" as you walk through the new x-ray vision machine? Thats a shock. Bitch about taking off your sandals and having to walk on the slimy grossest floor ever barefoot? Thats a shock. Forget to take the belt off before going through the metal detector? Thats a shock. Finally through security they give you a bench to put your shoes on and a piece of cheese for a lab rats job well done. Isnt public "education" fun?
Imagine the first months implementation... Old people having heart attacks. Teenagers figuring out a way to make them go off using restaraunt paging systems. Kids flopping around... Is this really the next great way to protect the chattle? Its bad enough that I am a 220lb man who is over 6' tall who somehow always gets assinged to the middle seat... Hey wait maybe being shocked into numb submission isnt such a bad idea afterall.
MACK Jul 10th 2008 12:37PM
JUST THE BEGINING FOLKS!!!!!!!!!!
eschurley Jul 10th 2008 2:09PM
Just contemplating it is clearly over the line. What will they do when the kids are acting up? Send them a training signal! I agree with Brian; rather than getting rid of immigrants I would become one.
Barbara Jul 10th 2008 3:10PM
Um.... is this still AMERICA???? Land of the FREE??? Hmmm....
I'm not a crimanal Jul 12th 2008 11:26PM
I'm not a crimanal and I will not be treated as one by wearing a shock bracelet with a GPS tracker!
This is stooping to the lowest level of laziness on DHS's part. It is a band aid fix for the poor training and lackluster security TSA agents they have hired.
jaehra Jul 13th 2008 1:21AM
All this would accomplish is terrorists would then decide they'd like to have control of the plane by taking over the device that sets off the wrists bands...how nice for them to be able to get passengers and crew to do whatever they like just by zapping them. Bravo, idiots..
KickassLumina95 Jul 13th 2008 1:02PM
The best way to improve security would be to stop hiring McDonalds rejects to do the screening.
J. Jul 14th 2008 7:56AM
I thought this article was a joke at first and then found this info in Washington Post from the company explaining how it would work:
Lamperd Less Lethal Inc., the Canadian company that designed the EMD Safety Bracelet, has responded to the controversy as follows:
We wish to clear up any misconceptions regarding the EMD Safety Bracelet for Airline Security.
The bracelets remain inactive until a hijacking situation has been identified. At such time a designated crew member will activate the bracelets making them capable of delivering the punitive measure - but only to those that need to be restrained. We believe that all passengers will welcome deliverance from a hijacking, as will the families, carriers, insurance providers etc. The F-16 on the wing-tip is not to reassure the passengers during a hijacking, but rather to shoot them down. Besides activation using the grid screen, the steward / stewardess will have a laser activator that can activate any bracelet as needed by simply pointing the laser at the bracelet - that laser dot only needs to be within 10 inches of the bracelet to activate it.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/aviation-security/2008/Jul/01/want-some-torture-with-your-peanuts/
Even with this explanation, I wouldn't want it and would oppose it's implementation. I'd rather deal with high gas prices than this absurdity!
Bruce Eden Jul 14th 2008 11:59AM
What happens to the person with the unknown heart problem, or those with known heart problems? What happens to the person who has a pacemaker? Have they given any of this any thought? It's just another knee-jerk reaction created by a bureaucracy trying to justify itself. Does El Al, the airline of Israel, compel it's passengers to wear these types of bracelets? Absolutely not! That's because they have well-trained observers looking to spot terrorists trying to board a plane. They don't have $12/hr. idiots, who now are thrust into a position of power as someone from Homeland Security, giving themselves inflated egos, which gives them license to believe that they can push Americans around whenever they feel like it.
It's not the Americans stupid! It's the Mid-easterners and suspect foreigners who are causing all the problems. These government bureaucrat retards need to observe them and scrutinize them more, rather than beating up on women and old people.
jaehra Jul 21st 2008 7:07PM
All this would accomplish is terrorists would then decide they'd like to have control of the plane by taking over the device that sets off the wrists bands...how nice for them to be able to get passengers and crew to do whatever they like just by zapping them. Bravo, idiots..
jaehra Dec 13th 2008 8:14PM
All this would accomplish is terrorists would then decide they'd like to have control of the plane by taking over the device that sets off the wrists bands...how nice for them to be able to get passengers and crew to do whatever they like just by zapping them. Bravo, idiots..
jaehra Jan 16th 2009 10:33PM
All this would accomplish is terrorists would then decide they'd like to have control of the plane by taking over the device that sets off the wrists bands...how nice for them to be able to get passengers and crew to do whatever they like just by zapping them. Bravo, idiots..
jaehra Feb 27th 2009 5:57PM
All this would accomplish is terrorists would then decide they'd like to have control of the plane by taking over the device that sets off the wrists bands...how nice for them to be able to get passengers and crew to do whatever they like just by zapping them. Bravo, idiots..