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Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2006 7:59 pm Post Subject: Compulsory Microchips in NZ Dogs
I was quite shocked to hear on the news this evening about the introduction of compulsory microchipping for newly registered dogs from July 2006.
South Canterbury farmers and others are taking a stand against it saying it is unnecessary as their dogs aren’t the ones causing the problems and attacks.
Having a look around the Internet I couldn’t find a lot of opposition to it. I get the impression people are going to accept it quite easily, finding good reasons for it. If it gets accepted easily then there won’t be resistance to the next step – children?
This is not a good precedent and neither is the fact that there is no choice. It seems that microchipping is already standard practice overseas. Cats here are already being microchipped and if you want to send your animal overseas it has to have a microchip before it is allowed into some countries.
I don’t like this.
I found an article from Scoop 2003 quoting National MP Dr Hutchison.
Quote:
While the Minister claims universal microchipping could assist with the return of more lost and stolen animals, and the better identification of owners, all dogs will still be required to wear collars and discs anyway, says Dr Hutchison.
One of the major thrusts of the new dog laws is to clamp down on irresponsible owners who often don't register their dogs.
Joined: 05 Nov 2003
Posts: 814
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2006 9:14 pm Post Subject:
Carus wrote:
If it gets accepted easily then there won’t be resistance to the next step – children?
Maybe not quite yet, but Vodafone are introducing a new mobile phone aimed at the pre-teen market. Utilising GPS, the phone allows parents to conduct surveillance of their kids through the phone, which can track the carrier's position to within 5 metres. It sends a text message to the parent if the child moves outside a set zone. The phone also keeps records of the child's movements for 30 days.
Reading the NZ Herald article leaves little doubt that microchipping of children wouldn't cause much of an uproar, provided parents were asssured it would be safe for their health. :( I can see signs of the movie 1984 - of a controlled, passive society looming closer.
Joined: 05 Nov 2003
Posts: 814
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 9:43 am Post Subject:
Colin wrote:
And is it just a coincidence that it looks just like a hand-held taser stun-gun??
:P heh heh - the design team must have had some fun.
Mind you, those bunny rabbit ears it has wouldn't appeal to an older, say teenage market, I imagine. No doubt there'll be another 'cooler looking' phone released for them...
I noticed a letter to the editor in the NZ Herald the other day from someone calling for more surveillance in public places. Unfortunately, we are seeing more and more willingness from people themselves seeking controls over our lives...
Joined: 09 Jun 2005
Posts: 266
Location: Christchurch
Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 11:32 am Post Subject:
interesting post and comments everyone.
taser. yep. and also a devil icon... kinda goes with the "wicked" all kids are saying today.. (i know our '70s "bitchin" and 80s "killer" just seems so tame today) :) and of course, how can we forget the illuminati salute:
Maybe chipping for people won’t be here for a while but we know that the technology is well under way and in place overseas. For all the reasons that people are wanting it and sometimes as they say, screaming for it, I am very concerned about it.
Two companies have announced plans to launch personal GPS "location devices" this year, which will act as a kind of LoJack for everyone from meandering children to nervous executives in kidnap-prone countries.
One is a bracelet, which parents can lock on their kids' wrists to track their location and movements over the Internet, that is made by Wherify.
Another -- and the most sci-fi application by far -- an implantable GPS device that Applied Digital Solutions of Florida plans to develop within the next eight months.
Quote:
Between 1992 and 1999, kidnappings for ransom have jumped 70 percent worldwide, according to insurer Hiscox of the U.K., and Latin America accounted for roughly 75 percent of all abductions.
"They've pleaded with us to please make a device like this," said Bolton, who predicted that the product would become the company's biggest seller.
Quote:
Bolton said the dimensions of the implantable GPS "personal location device" would be about two inches in diameter and a half-inch thick -– smaller than a pacemaker used by heart patients. It would combine both GPS and wireless technologies to pinpoint the exact location of the wearer.
Like a pacemaker, the device would be implanted in the upper clavicle area, he said. It would be powered by a lithium ion battery that can be recharged through the skin and use a proprietary antenna capable of transmitting signals through flesh and muscle.
Quote:
"This technology is going to change the way people feel about stealing kids and raping women on bike paths," he said. "It's really going to help people feel safer."
I think the following summation of the article is very important. Sure, initally we might seem to be safer but as technology advances, how small are these things going to get? How easy would it become to stick one of these things into someone without them knowing and how the hell would you get it out? The average Joe Bloggs wouldn’t think about all the possibilities of using implanted chips but others, with less than honourable intentions, will be thinking of many.
Quote:
But in the rush to create smaller, faster and fancier gadgets, some manufacturers have lost sight of practicalities, said Privacy Forum moderator Lauren Weinstein.
He pointed to implantable GPS as one of those items.
"There will be a short window where the bad guys aren't aware of the technology, but then it will be routine for them to dig around in their victims to see if they're wearing GPS receivers," said Weinstein. "The overriding issue is do you create a bigger danger to the person than existed in the first place?"
Here it is - the start of tagging for children. Hospital tags for babies are being introduced by Southland Hospital in Invercargill and is part of the Southland District Health Board's wider security strategy.
Even though there have been no abductions in Southland, and that they are rare, the risk has been identified and measures now put in place so the article goes:
After hearing Helen Clark’s comments a day or so ago about microchipping dogs - that to not make it mandatory for all dogs, wouldn’t fit in with the government’s planned regime, caused me to want to have a look on the Internet for further information.
I came across a web site for dog owners that had some interesting articles from a concerned dog enthusiast. Some very good points were raised:
Quote:
- Bringing in microchipping will not make bad owners register - it will serve only to cost good owners even more! A bad owner cares nothing for his/her dog - have one dog taken away and they will have another the next day.
- Are all local pounds, SPCAs, humane societies, refuges, rescue organisations, etc going to be required to own multi-scanners and have at least one staff member capable of operating them in a professional manner? If not, the system is a shambles to begin with!
- If local bodies are to oversee regulations in their own areas, this must mean that microchipping and registration on a database is INSTEAD OF, rather than AS WELL AS, traditional registration? If not, then councils are indeed simply double dipping!
- Are councils going to be allocated more staff to police the new laws?
- Are dogs that are already microchipped (or ones that are bought from overseas, already microchipped) going to have their numbers duplicated to the government database, or are they going to be required to have a government brand of microchip fitted and pay yet again?
This whole area of getting the scanning equipment and training people to use them sounds like a nightmare waiting to happen. There is concern about people being unable to use them properly and the potential for the enforced death of an animal because a proper reading could not be done:
Quote:
The chips often need more than a quick flick over the back of the animal to find them. I have been told they can be found under the dog's stomach, around its neck, on a thigh, and in one report a chip was found in the particular dog's ankle. Unless people working with scanners are trained properly, many chips could be missed by them and the dogs exterminated without even bothering to consult their paper registration files!
A letter was written to MP Jim Anderton by the writer quoted above. Here are some of his comments in response:
Quote:
Jim Anderton - In the main I believe that the overhaul of the dog control regime carried out nearly a decade ago effected most of the necessary improvements, and, while no regulatory regime is perfect, changes since have not added a great deal to that upgrade. There is always a danger of course, that the tightening of any regulatory regime, not just regarding animal control, but more generally, undertaken in the wake of a particularly horrendous set of circumstances, will be an over-reaction [The attack on one little girl seems to have set off in NZ an hysterical anti-dog response!]. Whether this has been the case regarding the introduction of microchipping remains to be seen and it should be given a fair trial, but I remain to be convinced that it alone provides the answer. The problem in my view is not one of further regulation but of enforcement.
This remark about the problem being one of enforcement certainly stands out to me. Like any system, it is only as good as the people who follow it through. If it's not simple, it's bound to get fouled up. Sounds like there is a lot of adminstration required for this system with more staff required at councils. Neither is it a priority area for local government so even more room for it to fall through the cracks....
Quote:
Jim Anderton - My criterion regarding any regulation in this field is: how effective will it be in constraining both irresponsible dog owners and minimising attacks? As I remarked above, I have yet to be convinced that microchipping on the scale proposed is any sort of definitive answer [It isn't, of course, and never was meant to be more than a valium for the hysterical and a boost to the government's funds].
:lol: You gotta laugh - the text in brackets/bold, are comments the writer has added to Jim Anderton’s letter of reply when published to the following web site:
To add to all the above, here is the latest horror story :evil: in this morning's Herald
"Radio Tracking seen as threat to workers"
Quote:
Technology that allows employers to monitor workers' movements is on its way to this country, bringing serious privacy concerns with it, the Privacy Forum heard yesterday.
But it was the University of Otago law professor Paul Roth's depiction of an Orwellian future where Big Brother electronically monitored every move that sent shivers up spines. Professor Roth told the forum that radio frequency identification was already in use overseas and would be used increasingly here.
The system uses a radio frequency reader to scan a data tag crried by a staff member, a tag which could uniquely identify what it was attached to.
"Unlike barcodes, the tags are more "intelligent" in that they have a memory that can provide readers with much more information, and this memory can be added to or altered" Professor Roth said.
"Moreover, there is a continuous link that can be monitored."
The system had been used in work places such as hospitals to track down surgeons in case of emergency and to monitor access to drugs.
Although it was usually incorporated in access cards, some overseas workplaces had implanted tags into employees' bodies, Professor Roth
said.
The technology would pose new challenges to privacy rights and expectations in the workplace and would ultimately have to be accommodated under the employment and privacy laws.
Joined: 05 Nov 2003
Posts: 814
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2006 11:16 pm Post Subject:
joan wrote:
To add to all the above, here is the latest horror story
And where does the latest bank ATM 'skimming' activity fit into 'planned regimes'? There is now talk of introducing smart cards, no doubt the public will place its support fully behind these. Should they prove to be just as fallible, would microchipping solve a myriad of potential problems in the banking system? I am interested in the timing of this suspected professional skimming operation.
My dog wasn't registered before 2003. I determined she would not be chipped and it was only the threat of chipping that got me to register her before the law came in.
Dog registration doesn't track the dog, it tracks the owner/personal responsible. Nothing more.
