A senior DHS official is seriously interested in EMD Bracelets for all airline passengers. The basic idea is to replace boarding passes with bracelets that would connect passengers with their luggage, serve as passenger identification, enable tracking throughout the airport…oh and they have the abililty to taser you if you get out of line. That’s right. EMD stands for Electro-Muscular Disruption. If you don’t believe that someone is seriously marketing this – here’s the infomercial

These things are obviously a bad idea for several reasons. Everyone is screaming Big Brother is watching! But here are 5 more problems with EMD bracelets.

1. Hackable mechanism
   The device works via radio waves, and they’re using RFID technology. But RFID technology is hackable. Couldn’t a terrorist disable their own bracelet by hacking into it?

   Even worse suppose the would-be terrorist gets control of the device that controls these things on the plane, or hacks into all of them. Now he can take out all of the passengers in one fell swoop. The heroic Todd Beamers of the flight would be incapacitated and on the floor.

2. Breakable Mechanism
   Suppose the RFID chips are encrypted and that the would-be terrorists aren’t smart enough to crack through the encryption. RFID chips are still easily breakable with a good old-fashioned hammer.

   Even if the chips weren’t breakable, the device works by delivering an electric pulse to the body. I’m no physicist, but wouldn’t a nice thick piece of rubber inserted between the skin and the node that delivers the shock keep you from getting zapped.

3. Technology is Only as Good as The People Using It.
   I can’t take credit for the wonderful cliche’ that is the title of this subsection. It’s from the company’s infomercial. (You should really watch it, if you haven’t already)

   In their argument for using these EMD safety bracelets, the company notes that technology is only as good as the people using it. They must be ignorant of the fact that EMD bracelets are a piece of technology. If airport staff can’t be trusted to make that technology work – why think they’re going to be any better at this stuff?

4. Taser Safety and Abuse
   Tasers aren’t as safe as their producers would like you to believe, and there is a growing body of documentation concerning taser abuse.  [See here for some more interesting info concerning the controversy of taser safety].
5. People with Medical Conditions Forced Into Wedlock
   There are people with medical conditions who have a strong interest in not being tased. Asking them to strap a taser to their wrist would be like asking them to strap on an exploding collars from a bad Rutger Hauer movie. That’s pretty serious when you consider the potential for things to go wrong listed above. (…You know you’ve watched it…don’t lie)

   In fact, since getting zapped by an EMD device can induce a heart attack – you’re kind of doing this to anyone.