Advances in crowd control

March 24, 2005 4:52 AM

What is the ID SNIPER(TM) rifle?"It is used to implant a GPS-microchip in the body of a human being, using a high powered sniper rifle as the long distance injector. [...] At the same time a digital camcorder with a zoom-lense fitted within the scope will take a high-resolution picture of the target. This picture will be stored on a memory card for later image-analysis." Other popular products by Empire North include JUJU the Citizen Eye. Empire North is run by Jakob Boeskov.
posted by sour cream (22 comments total)

The link back to whitehouse.gov was a nice touch to add credibility (for the credulous). Imagining future scenarios and then translating them into present-day artifacts is a well-mined (and much appreciated) subversive art form. Boeskov's imaginings have just enough whiff of plausibility to be frightening.
posted by beelzbubba at 5:38 AM on March 24, 2005

click on the chip for a spooky closeup view. it says that the recipient of the love will only feel something like a mosquito bite. i wonder just how large that 'chip' is?
posted by moonbird at 5:43 AM on March 24, 2005

That China Police 2002 exhibition thing was a nice touch too -- except in real life the Chinese police just go ahead and shoot protesters with real bullets.
posted by Toecutter at 5:50 AM on March 24, 2005

Oh, you bastard. That. stings. so. fucking. much.
posted by monocyte at 5:52 AM on March 24, 2005

The Id-sniper and Empire North was conceptualized by 2 Danish journalists from Black Box Magazine, as a means of getting access to the China Police Exhibition in 2002. Their exploits are described in the first (and only) issue of the magazine, which unfortunately only is available in Denmark (if anymore).
posted by eatoversink at 6:39 AM on March 24, 2005

Ah, the infiltration at the fair is described on Jakobs site in the press release "My doomsday weapon - or how I infiltrated a Chinese arms fair with a nightmare weapon from the futue"...
posted by eatoversink at 6:44 AM on March 24, 2005

Doesn't this just cause a problem that could be fixed with a metal detector, scalpel and a pair of tweezers?
posted by clevershark at 6:57 AM on March 24, 2005

I know what I'm getting for Christmas!
posted by fungible at 7:28 AM on March 24, 2005

clevershark... that assumes you realize you've been hit.
posted by banished at 7:52 AM on March 24, 2005

All I had to read was:

"Effective range ..... 1100 meters"

And I knew it was BS

That's the same effective range as a Dragunov (a real sniper rifle).
posted by Relay at 9:06 AM on March 24, 2005

Like that? You'll love this. Deliver both poisoin and its antidote from remote control.
posted by StickyCarpet at 9:28 AM on March 24, 2005

Didn't Dante depict a circle of hell for those who waged this pernicious sort of mischief ?

Oh how fitting if somebody decided to track Jakob Boeskov with his own sniperchip.

Or, maybe it should be done publicly so Americans everywhere can track the movements of this known public menace.

Then, that could be made into a reality TV show : "Where's Boeskov".
posted by troutfishing at 9:58 AM on March 24, 2005

Um yeah, any sniper rifle capable of implanting a chip under the skin at 1100 meters and making it feel like a mosquito bite is utter bullshit. The impact would knock someone off their feet or, if the chip is small enough, the prevailing winds would make an effective hit all but impossible.

I'm going to have to go with bullshit for $800, Alex. What is the ID Sniper Rifle?
posted by fenriq at 10:02 AM on March 24, 2005

Debunkers are advised to click through all post links for easy access to this info: it is an art project.
posted by damehex at 10:52 AM on March 24, 2005

I recall hearing about the Chinese Expo on NPR some time ago. This is a great follow-up to that. The website for the product alone is deliciously creepy.
posted by basicchannel at 11:35 AM on March 24, 2005

clevershark... that assumes you realize you've been hit.

That is damn scary.
posted by davy at 2:25 PM on March 24, 2005

So why do we automatically assume somebody's crazy when s/he talks about an implant? They don't exactly do major surgery to tag dogs with 'em, you know.
posted by davy at 2:40 PM on March 24, 2005

i'm going to have to call bullshit her as well. In addition to the obvious problem of the 1100 meter range with a low mass projectile, i have to take issue with the projectile itself. The obvious problem is that if this is GPS it's batteries are going to only be good for a minimal amount of time based on the size and the relative power hungriness of GPS based systems. More importantly however is that even if this _is_ a GPS based receiver, so what? Unless it's also a transmitter, it does the shooter no good. The chip knows exactly where it is, but has no way of telling anyone else. And based upon current technology, i very much doubt that that thing in the picture is a GPS transponder.

Maybe one day something like this will be a threat. Not today though.
posted by quin at 4:01 PM on March 24, 2005

Maybe this particular device sounds unlikely, but I doubt tagging people electronically is just Sci-Fi anymore. Why the courts still bother with those ankle-bracelets is beyond me.
posted by davy at 6:35 PM on March 24, 2005

Their exploits are described in the first (and only) issue of the magazine, which unfortunately only is available in Denmark (if anymore).

It's reprinted in disinfo's "Abuse Your Illusions" as "How I Crashed A Chinese Arms Bazaar With A Rifle That Doesn't Exist".
posted by John Shaft at 9:55 PM on March 24, 2005

I imagine the tiny projectile would need to be based on some sort of heavy element. DU, whatever.
posted by troutfishing at 10:28 PM on March 24, 2005

IT IS AN ART PROJECT.

I've had a few chuckles when I see this show up on conspiracy websites as being an actual product.
posted by tomble at 5:59 PM on March 30, 2005