-Caveat Lector- ---------- > From: Hilary A. Thomas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [InTheShadows] Satellite 'Big Brother' eyes parolees > Date: Tuesday, June 08, 1999 10:37 AM > > From: "Hilary A. Thomas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > From: Dan S <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/cte834.htm > - > 04/08/99- Updated 11:06 AM ET > > Satellite 'Big Brother' eyes parolees > > Technology is same as that used to guide nuclear missiles > > By Gary Fields, USA TODAY > > Military satellites designed to guide nuclear missiles are being used to > monitor prison parolees and probationers in a > technological advance designed to reduce the nation's skyrocketing > prison population. But critics say it also raises the specter of > an Orwellian future. > > The ComTrak monitoring system uses 24 Defense Department satellites > orbiting 12,500 miles above the Earth to track 100 > people in nine states. The people under surveillance range from sex > offenders in Chicago to juvenile delinquents in New Jersey. > The cost of monitoring each person is $12.50 per day. > > It is a long way from a system originally designed by the Defense > Department to help guide nuclear missiles. The Pentagon > began leasing satellite time, allowing others to use the satellites, > after the Cold War ended. "It's bullets to plowshares,'' says Jack > Lamb, president and CEO of Advanced Business Sciences Inc., the > Omaha-based company that developed the ComTrak > system. > > The system has three main components: a bracelet the size of a > wristwatch, a 3-pound personal tracking unit that resembles a > walkie-talkie, and the battery charger/base that is kept at the > monitored person's house and transmits information by telephone > to a monitoring center. If the bracelet is broken or removed or the > wearer is more than 50 feet from the tracking unit, an alarm is > sent to the monitoring center. > > The system is programmed to set up zones where a person monitored can > and cannot go, depending on the crime committed. > For example, people with drunken-driving convictions can be tracked to > set off an alarm if they enter local bars. Exclusion > zones for a sexual predator can include schools and parks in a > designated area. And an abusive husband can be tracked to > ensure he stays clear of his wife's workplace, home or places she > visits. When a person being monitored enters an exclusion > zone, the tracking unit sends an automatic alert to monitoring centers > in Omaha. Law enforcement authorities are alerted within > minutes. > > At night, the tracker is placed in the charger, which downloads all of a > person's movements that day -- right down to the precise > route the person took to work -- and sends the record of movements to > the monitoring center. > > Lamb says the potential for growth is "phenomenal." There are nearly 4 > million people under some form of supervision in the > USA. Of those, only about 11,000 are monitored electronically under the > old system, which is unable to track a person's > movements once he or she has left home. Some see the new system as a > tool for judges grappling with a prison and jail > population of 1.8 million people at a cost of more than $40 per day for > each inmate. > > Percy Luney Jr., president of the National Judicial College at the > University of Nevada, Reno, where judges receive training in > such issues as alternative sentencing, says the system "gives judges an > option for keeping people out of jail and away from all the > negative influences there. It's also a cost-saver for the taxpayer.'' > > Lamb says his system also is an improvement over older technology, which > can tell only if those being monitored leave home > during restricted hours. "The problem with the old system is once they > leave home, you have no idea where they are or what > they are doing,'' Lamb says. > > Others involved in the prison industry, from defense lawyers to > probation and parole officers and judges, acknowledge that the > advanced monitoring system has potential. However, there are some > concerns about how far the use of such surveillance will > go. > > Paul Rothstein, a law professor at Georgetown University, says the > system has the potential "to change the face of law > enforcement and incarceration." But he also sees the "potential for > creating a monster.'' > > Rothstein is concerned that the advances in technology could result in > more and more people being subjected to electronic > monitoring -- not just those on parole . > > "You could end up with the majority of the population under some kind of > surveillance by the government,'' he says. > > Jack King, spokesman for the National Association of Criminal Defense > Lawyers, says his organization supports the electronic > monitoring. He sees it as especially helpful in the case of someone who > should be out on bail but is too destitute to pay it. > > He says he is concerned about such technology being used to monitor > people who have served their sentences and paid their > debts to society. > > "If it's to track someone who has done his full term, like a registered > sex offender or a formerly dangerous felon, then the use of > this technology becomes Orwellian with all the dangers to all our > freedoms that suggests,'' King says. "Who would they be > tracking next?'' > > -- > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > ONElist: the best source for group communications. > http://www.onelist.com > Join a new list today! > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > [ISML] Insane Science Mailing List > LIST MODERATOR: DAN S. > To subscribe: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/isml > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Looking for your kindred spirit? > http://www.onelist.com > Go to ONElist: where kindred spirits connect and stay connected. > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > InTheShadows is a discussion list dedicated to keeping up-to-date with new technologies, advancements in medicine, environmental concerns, 'conspiracy theories', politics, and, of course, UFO stuff. Discussion is encouraged. 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