Re:Saudi files for 'killer' tracking chip patent
by bayareaguy on Sunday May 17, 2009 @12:50PM
(#613615)
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?
Re:Saudi files for 'killer' tracking chip patent
by dhs on Sunday May 17, 2009 @01:43PM
(#613679)
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.
Re:Saudi files for 'killer' tracking chip patent
by nop on Sunday May 17, 2009 @12:21PM
(#613566)
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.
Re:Saudi files for 'killer' tracking chip patent
by dmix on Sunday May 17, 2009 @02:35PM
(#613746)
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.
Re:Saudi files for 'killer' tracking chip patent
by gojomo on Sunday May 17, 2009 @04:30PM
(#613922)
Prisons beta-test surveillance/confinement/contraband policies for airports. Airports beta-test for schools. Schools beta-test for everywhere, in the next generation.
Re:Saudi files for 'killer' tracking chip patent
by patrickg-zill on Sunday May 17, 2009 @12:07PM
(#613547)
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.
Re:Saudi files for 'killer' tracking chip patent
by jbm on Sunday May 17, 2009 @03:02PM
(#613785)
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.
Re:Saudi files for 'killer' tracking chip patent
by abecedarius on Sunday May 17, 2009 @06:52PM
(#614030)
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).
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?
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.
On the bright side, Science marches on!... if it helps shore up the corrupt local monarchies.