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internetworkers - Re: High-tech homing devices worry privacy advocates

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  • From: Michael S Czeiszperger <czei AT webperfcenter.com>
  • To: "InterNetWorkers" <internetworkers AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: High-tech homing devices worry privacy advocates
  • Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2001 10:24:03 -0500


On Wednesday 03 January 2001 17:41, you wrote:
> "They have them for cars, they must have them for kids," Kathy Brown told
> him, but a trip to Toys R Us proved fruitless - car tracking devices, after
> all, are attached to a 40-pound battery. <rest snipped - read more at URL
> below:)
>

There was an interesting article in Wired a year or two ago about a company
that was running a scam selling distributorships for child tracking devices.
They claimed to have a demo, and were just about the ship product, waiting on
a minor technical detail of getting the transmitter smaller enough to fit on
a child.

In the case of www.eworldtrack.com, the web site has a picture of a shoe with
a little dime-sized piece of electronics on it. In order to do location
tracking, the device has to generate a signal strong enough to reach to a
satellite or cell phone tower. (I'm not sure exactly how it works.) I would
think if the technology existed to make a dime-sized transmitter capable of
transmitting that far, then cell phones would be smaller.

I've looked into purchasing miniature trackers to do research into the
roaming habits of house cats, and the problem is in the power requirements.
Even if you could shrink the transmitters small enough, you still have to get
a battery that is both small enough to match the transmitter in size, and
still generate enough power. Even the smallest and most expensive transmitter
I could find on the market only had a range of a couple of hundred yards
within line of sight, even with a large antenna.

My take on this is they currently aren't selling the devices, and I'll
believe it actually works when I see it.

--
Michael S Czeiszperger | czei AT webperfcenter.com
Web Performance Inc. | http://www.webperfcenter.com




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