NEW PEOPLE LOCATER

A corporation named Wherify Wireless, Inc.(1) has just started selling a very special, new-style wristwatch. Among other interesting attributes, this watch can be locked on the wrist for "safety."

The new device is a lot more than just a wristwatch, though. As with the newer Timex and Casio watches, the Wherify watch displays Global Positioning System (GPS) information. It also has the ability to synchronize with the nation's atomic clock system and so not only keeps accurate time but also resets itself anytime the wearer enters another time zone.

More interesting yet, the watch is actually a transceiver. That is, it automatically "talks" with a digital, nationwide wireless network that anyone with the correct password can access. Because, the primary function of this new wristwatch is to inform that nationwide digital wireless network of where it is at all times.

The watch will also alert the network if someone tries to remove it from the user improperly. Also, there is a 911 button that can call for help in case of an emergency.

This new gizmo is not cheap, though. They sell for four-hundred bucks a copy and the subscription to the wireless network starts at twenty-five bucks a month, depending.

Wherify Wireless advertises the new device as a "GPS Personal Locater for Children."

The company says that children have a natural urge to explore and parents have a natural desire to know their children are safe. "That's why Wherify created the world's first Personal Locator to help you determine your child's location in minutes. Wherify's GPS Personal Locator helps keep loved ones safe by combining Wherify's patented technology with the U.S. Department of Defense's multi- billion dollar Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites plus the largest 100% digital, nationwide PCS wireless network."

Sure, it will locate the wearer. That's not the problem. The real problem is simple: Where does this technology go from here?

So, just for fun, we called an old friend who happens to be a parole officer with some pretty rough clients and ran the information by him. He was quite interested and accessed Wherify's web page while we were talking.

The software package he would want, of course, would keep a running account of where the wearer is at all times and alert the parole office anytime the wearer was in an unapproved location.

And here is where we start having a major problem with this technology. A similar system is already used on some trucks and/or special cargo shipments so the dispatcher always knows where it is located. That's fine, as long as the truck driver knows about it. We probably wouldn't have a problem using the device on violent parolees. Nor is there a real problem if parents use the device to keep track of kids. Unfortunately, it will not stop there.

Like the parole officer, prosecutors and lower court judges will see this new device as another law enforcement aide. Any kid caught with a joint or adult caught drinking and driving will be eligible for constant tracking. One reason is because courts and prosecutors will quickly see this as a profit center. Set up correctly, they can force the accused to either pay a hefty price for being monitored or go to jail. Every month, the courts in any major metropolitan area could find a few hundred such candidates for 30 or 90 day monitoring.

The system would be available for all sorts of interesting mischief. For instance, those suspecting their spouse of wandering would need only slip one of these watches in their vehicle, or even their clothing or handbag. Then, they can sit comfortably at home and use their computer to keep a running account of the whereabouts of the unsuspecting spouse.

On the other hand, perhaps this device would work well for government workers. There seems to be an awful lot of government workers playing golf during the day this summer. Perhaps it would be eventful if their supervisors knew exactly where they were during working hours.

I just sent the following Email to my state representative. This must be addressed at the state level, and state legislators are the ones who must change the penalties prescribed by law.

I write today because I have become so incensed at the several recent instances of young children being abused, raped, and even kidnapped and murdered. Somehow, the perpetrators of these heinous acts seem to have already been through the system one or more times for similar actions. But the system does not work. These predators are pronounced "cured" and released to prey upon the public - and their chosen innocent victims - once again.

It is time to change the prescribed penalty for molesting a child under 17 to life in prison, combined with a specific, lifetime designation as a CHILD PREDATOR, that cannot be removed by any executive action - or excused by a religious superior.

Fully supervised parole for such a child predator designee, after a LONG mandatory minimum incarceration, might be possible ONLY if combined with 24-hour electronic location mapping. This kind of GPS tracking technology is readily available, and costs about $15 per day, which can be charged to the parolee. His exact location is always visible on a monitor, which is set up to show exactly where and when he is allowed to travel, and sounds an alarm immediately if he enters a forbidden area or loses contact.

Of course I have other concerns about the next legislative year, but I believe it is time to protect the public from these monsters, and stop pretending that this crime should be measured on the same scale as others that now carry similar sentences.

The real problem is simple: Where does this technology go from here?

Simple. Everybody wears one (that'll lower the cost, btw.)

Think about it. Let's start with the obvious, as others have here, with sex offenders. And throw in kidnapping offenders too; it's for the children, after all.

And while we're considering the children, let's add convicted drug dealers to the list. Your kid turns up with drugs, you'll have a good idea where, when and from whom the drugs were bought. For that matter, for the teens, add booze and cigarettes to the list.

But why stop there? According to this government study there are other offenders with much higher rearrest rates -- car-thieves, robbers and burglars, for example. Make them wear the watch, and the police will know which of them were in the vicinity when your car was stolen or your house was burglarized. You might even get your valuable whatever back.

But I digress. Harking back to the original case, there's a problem -- about half the sex offenders convicted every year are first-time offenders. If only the convicted offenders wear the watch, the rest get away easy. Also, in the cases where a child (wearing the watch) has been molested, it gets a whole lot easier to figure out whodunit.

And this is just symptomatic of all sorts of problems. How many murders go unsolved for so long because the police have no idea who could have done it? In Seattle there was the Ted Bundy case many years ago, and there is now another major serial-murder case being prosecuted -- but the serial murders ended a couple decades ago.

All these crimes would be so much more readily solvable if everyone wore the watch. For Ted Bundy, you'd have proof he was on the scene, every time. Kinda suspicious, that. These crimes would be so solvable, in fact, that the crime rate would plummet almost out of sight. Why rob a bank when: #1) they know who you are immediately, and #2) they know where you are at all times. Oh, you could rip the watch off, I suppose -- but going anywhere without a watch immediately draws attention, and suspicion, to you.

And just think what it would do for the war on terrorism. Al Qaeda cells would find it much harder to operate, because they could rarely if ever meet. It would be so much easier to keep track of visitors.

Or think of McVeigh. Was there a John Doe #2? It would be pretty easy to find out, if everyone wore the watch.

But there are those who would find such a system a little bit difficult. Stalkers, for example. And translated to the future, a certain former president would have a hard time explaining to a certain sitting Senator the proof some of his old (reported) parking-lot dalliances, of the kiss-and-... well, we won't go there... sort. And really, anyone else trying to transgress or subvert societial rules and laws.

And all you have to do is give up a wee bit of privacy, the tiniest sliver of liberty, in order to be safe.

(Some will resist the notion because, like taxes, which always start as small insignificant things that always impact "somebody else," it will drag in everybody, sooner or later. You decide if they're right or wrong. If you think they're wrong, wear the watch. After all, not only is it for the children, it might be for your own safety.)

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