ID Sniper rifle

ID Sniper rifle

The ID Sniper rifle is an art project, a fictional, hoax weapon devised by Jakob Boeskov, a Danish artist from New York and Danish industrial designer Kristian von Bengtson on a suggestion of Danish journalist Mads Brügger. [http://www.rfidjournal.com/magazine/article/1041 "RFID Gun Plays Into Privacy Fears"] , "RFID Journal" (retrieved December 11, 2007) ] The ID Sniper supposedly shoots GPS chips, and the police force may tag persons with this rifle for later easy retrieval. It was produced by the fictional company Empire North [ [http://www.backfire.dk/EMPIRENORTH/newsite/ Empire North] ]

According to its specs, [ [http://www.backfire.dk/EMPIRENORTH/newsite/products_en001.htm ID Sniper specs] ] , "It will feel like a mosquito-bite lasting a fraction of a second. 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."

Unveiling

The design was presented in 2002 in Beijing at the China Police exhibition [http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,347596,00.html An article in] "Der Spiegel" de icon] Boeskov created an artistic project, "My Doomsday Weapon", a travelling exhibition of the ID Sniper rifle, in which he humorously describes his "infiltration" of China police. [ [http://www.wnyc.org/shows/tnbt/episodes/2005/12/16 "High Tech High Art"] , a "New York Public Radio" December 16, 2005 episode] [ [http://www.kopenhagen.dk/interviews/interviews/interview_jakob_boeskov An interview for Kopenhagen.dk] dk icon ] Boeskov says that a Chinese company offered venture capital and a location for manufacturing.

The news about the weapon was spread over the internet. When the news were "slashdotted", the Empire North website was hit with about 1.6 million viewers. Even "Computerworld" was hoaxed although they quickly withdrew the report. [ [http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php?id=734197674 Opinions: Journalist suckered by RFID sniper rifle 'Fictionism'] ] [ [http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php?id=1000351347 Opinions: Look closer at sniper claims] ] In the spring of 2004 the news and work of the company reached Washington, DC, in the Homeland Security newsletter published by the Congressional Quarterly Group.

"Engadget" published a brief comment about the hoax, together with a picture of the "weapon" shortly after the Computerworld article was released. [ [http://www.engadget.com/2004/04/28/computerworld-duped-by-id-sniper-rifle-hoax/ Engadget: Computerworld duped by ID-Sniper rifle hoax] ] Nevertheless on March 7th, 2007, Engadget posted further images and news of the "weapon" under the title "ID Sniper Rifle fires GPS tracking chip into unwitting humans" despite having denounced it as a hoax three years before.

References

Further reading

* "Abuse Your Illusions - The Disinformation Guide To Media Mirages and Establishment Lies", edited by Russ Kick (2003) ISBN 0-9713942-4-5
* "Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID", by Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre (2005) ISBN 1595550208


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