DMoriarty's Blog

I know this is hardly new news, but strides are being made.  I for one, as a parent, would love the security of knowing where my children were, if God forbid, they ever were abducted:

NEW YORK —  From little ones prone to running off in crowds to big kids hitting the road for the first time, a bunch of new devices claim to help parents keep an "eye" on their children — even when they're not around.

The most controversial of these gadgets is an under-the-skin personal location device from Applied Digital Solutions. Using Global Positioning Satellite technology, a microchip surgically implanted in the body finds children and notifies parents of their whereabouts.

ADS says the device, which is the size of a wristwatch-face and may become even smaller, could be used to find kidnapped children, locate young kids who wander away from parents and track teens who participate in at-risk behavior.

"With an implanted device, the child doesn't have to remember to wear it. It can't be lost or stolen or stripped away. And it's totally concealed," company spokesman Matthew Cossolotto said.

A prototype will be available later this year. In the meantime, ADS already manufactures two similar products: VeriChip and Digital Angel.

Cossolotto says VeriChip ($200 plus $9.95 a month), an under-the-skin, tamper-proof method of identifying one person against another, could help prevent kidnappings like the one of Utah teen Elizabeth Smart.