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I was actually looking for something else, but I came upon various interesting links about how GPS ankle monitors work.
Someone on Metafilter asked how to foil one for fictional purposes, which led to all kinds of interesting and useful suggestions, including burying the character underground (apparently they're rather ineffective through a lot of concrete or stone) or an EMP pulse.
Or a GPS jammer, which led to this fascinating article. Apparently GPS jammers can be purchased very cheaply online (actually, when I used "GPS jammer" as search terms, those were some of the first hits that came up) and mess up anything that uses GPS, including cell phones, Navy subs and airport control towers. They are very illegal, for obvious reasons, but when you're talking about fictional characters who break the law, that doesn't matter so much ...
A young reporter on Youtube wore an ankle monitor for a week and did a video about it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBAT07UEWug
Also, though it varies from place to place, apparently ankle monitoring is frequently contracted out to security companies, not done directly by the government itself. Which makes sense, because who wants to waste a trained law enforcement officer sitting in front of a computer monitor when you can hire a security firm to do it yourself?
Somewhat tangentially, I get the impression from reading White Collar fic that a lot of writers treat it as if Peter has total discretion over where/how the ankle monitor is used, but I don't think he does -- specifically, I don't think he can just let Neal off the monitor at his own discretion, without being able to justify in a court of law that there's a good, FBI-related reason for it, any more than he could let him out of prison on a whim. (Which is what ankle monitoring is supposed to simulate.) Of course, the show itself lets the characters do all kinds of illegal things anyway, but from my admittedly limited understanding of how ankle monitors work -- based mostly upon past conversations with an RL friend whose husband was on an ankle monitor a couple of years ago -- it is still supposed to be prison, just a bigger prison. Anyway, I've occasionally run into fic that treats Peter as the bad guy for not letting Neal off the anklet for various reasons, but I don't think that's something he has the ability to do, except when actively pursuing a case.
Also, not really related to the above, but still a cool link: this young woman in Germany has been implanting magnets beneath her skin so that she can feel electric currents. SO SCI-FI, OMG.
I sometimes wonder what the government thinks of my browser search history. *g*
Someone on Metafilter asked how to foil one for fictional purposes, which led to all kinds of interesting and useful suggestions, including burying the character underground (apparently they're rather ineffective through a lot of concrete or stone) or an EMP pulse.
Or a GPS jammer, which led to this fascinating article. Apparently GPS jammers can be purchased very cheaply online (actually, when I used "GPS jammer" as search terms, those were some of the first hits that came up) and mess up anything that uses GPS, including cell phones, Navy subs and airport control towers. They are very illegal, for obvious reasons, but when you're talking about fictional characters who break the law, that doesn't matter so much ...
A young reporter on Youtube wore an ankle monitor for a week and did a video about it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBAT07UEWug
Also, though it varies from place to place, apparently ankle monitoring is frequently contracted out to security companies, not done directly by the government itself. Which makes sense, because who wants to waste a trained law enforcement officer sitting in front of a computer monitor when you can hire a security firm to do it yourself?
Somewhat tangentially, I get the impression from reading White Collar fic that a lot of writers treat it as if Peter has total discretion over where/how the ankle monitor is used, but I don't think he does -- specifically, I don't think he can just let Neal off the monitor at his own discretion, without being able to justify in a court of law that there's a good, FBI-related reason for it, any more than he could let him out of prison on a whim. (Which is what ankle monitoring is supposed to simulate.) Of course, the show itself lets the characters do all kinds of illegal things anyway, but from my admittedly limited understanding of how ankle monitors work -- based mostly upon past conversations with an RL friend whose husband was on an ankle monitor a couple of years ago -- it is still supposed to be prison, just a bigger prison. Anyway, I've occasionally run into fic that treats Peter as the bad guy for not letting Neal off the anklet for various reasons, but I don't think that's something he has the ability to do, except when actively pursuing a case.
Also, not really related to the above, but still a cool link: this young woman in Germany has been implanting magnets beneath her skin so that she can feel electric currents. SO SCI-FI, OMG.
I sometimes wonder what the government thinks of my browser search history. *g*