Re: Is theft becoming impossible?

From: Adrian Tymes (wingcat@pacbell.net)
Date: Thu Sep 04 2003 - 12:54:10 MDT

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    --- BillK <bill@wkidston.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
    > From US Department of Justice:
    > http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cvict_c.htm#property
    > "Property crime makes up about three-quarters of all
    > crime in the United
    > States."
    >
    > So tagging everything would stop three-quarters of
    > all crime!!!
    > Can this be possible?!

    Interesting choice of words. "Tagging" also refers to
    grafitti which, when sprayed on non-public surfaces
    one does not own or otherwise have permission to
    deface, is vandalism, and therefore a property crime.
    "Yes, I can prove absolutely beyond any shadow of a
    doubt that it was my car's windows that were broken.
    But who broke 'em?"

    There's also the little fact that possession is not
    itself stopped by adding RFIDs and the like -
    deterred, possibly, if the item will be held long
    enough that scanners are likely to come looking
    anywhere near the suspect. But consumable goods can
    be consumed ("You're saying that was your gasoline?
    Good luck proving it: it's fumes now."), small items
    can have their IDs removed or disabled (though
    anything $10K and up - like a car - and easily stolen
    is often worthy enough of protection that it is
    already "tagged", or otherwise protected), and most
    anything can be moved through the black market before
    scanners come looking.

    Also, consider that most criminals give no thought to
    what happens if they're caught. In the same defiance
    of rational thought that leads them to believe crime
    pays in the long run, they usually simply believe they
    won't be caught. (There are exceptions, of course,
    and for some criminals - usually the ones who think
    clearly enough about this that they do not, in fact,
    get caught - crime does pay. But that's a small
    fraction of the cases, since most people who think
    that clearly tend to find far more profitable uses for
    their time.)



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