It’s a big day for blogging about RFID and ankle bracelets. A couple in North Carolina was recently prevented from abducting their daughter from the hospital by an RFID security system from VeriChip (yeah, the case raises a lot of questions, but we’re sticking to the tech stuff):
The “Hugs” system includes monitoring software and an ankle bracelet that contains a tiny radio transmitter designed to prevent infants from being removed from a health-care facility without authorization. Every infant who is born at the Presbyterian Hospital receives a Hugs tag on the ankle or wrist to monitor movement around the hospital. Exit points throughout the hospital also are electronically monitored to detect unauthorized removal of an infant.
Of course, these infant-security devices are not new, but we suspect RFID will replace the more cumbersome technology out there now (which bears a striking similarity to anti-shoplifting devices). And if it works this well for rare abductions, it won’t be long before RFID tech is applied to patients who can leave on their own.
More at VeriChip…