From: cdale@silly.techmonkeys.net
Date: Sun May 14 2000 - 10:21:20 PDT
I had a crazy aunt who used to say that our social security numbers were
the "mark of the beast." Claimed to have gotten a too-early-sent letter
from the SS dept. saying that if you are not stamped with your number, you
cannot buy food, etc. Maybe she wasn't really crazy. (:
C
On Sat, 13 May 2000, Rohit Khare wrote:
>
> ***********
>
> Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 09:40:28 -0800
> To: nobody@well.com
> From: Jim Warren <jwarren@well.com>
> Subject: 1999 patent issued for using barcode tatoos for human identification
>
> Aside from the comparison of this patent to the numbers tatooed on
> prisoners in Hitler's death-camps during World War II more than half
> a century ago, and its comparison to the barcode scanning systems
> that have been in use for decades to identify everything from cans of
> soup to patient tags used in some hospitals and medical records --
> one wonders what kindergarden child working in the US Patent and
> Trademark Office concluded that this was a non-obvious and novel
> "discovery" worthy of a patent?!
>
> The US PTO is obviously in need of some adult supervision!
>
> ===
>
> http://patents.uspto.gov/cgi-bin/ifetch4?ENG+PATBIB-ALL+0+967198+0+7+2
> 5907+OF+1+1+1+PN%2f5878155
>
> United States Patent 5,878,155
> Heeter Mar. 2, 1999
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Method for verifying human identity during electronic sale transactions
> Abstract
> A method is presented for facilitating sales transactions by
> electronic media. A bar code or a design is tattooed on an
> individual. Before the sales transaction can be consummated, the
> tattoo is scanned with a scanner. Characteristics about the scanned
> tattoo are compared to characteristics about other tattoos stored on
> a computer database in order to verify the identity of the buyer.
> Once verified, the seller may be authorized to debit the buyer's
> electronic bank account in order to consummate the transaction. The
> seller's electronic bank account may be similarly updated.
>
> ***********
>
> Here's an article from last year on Heeter's patent:
> http://www.newscientist.com/ns/19991023/patentrigh.html
>
> Some folks were upset:
> http://www.av1611.org/666/index.html
> http://home.iae.nl/users/lightnet/world/mark.htm
> http://sites.netscape.net/tadprophet/waymarks
>
> So we know that a man named Thomas W. Heeter, who lives in or near
> Houston, Texas last year received a patent on this barcode scheme.
> What's interesting is that a man also named Thomas W. Heeter, who
> also lives in or near Houston, recently ran for election as a family
> court judge.
>
> -Declan
>
> The Houston Chronicle
> March 11, 1999
> Ex-judge candidate sues Fox television
> By RON NISSIMOV
>
> A former Democratic candidate for a Harris County state district
> judge position has sued Fox television, two reporters and a lawyer
> regarding broadcasts that questioned his competency to serve as judge.
>
> Lawyer Thomas W. Heeter, who ran unopposed in the March 10, 1998,
> Democratic primary for 312th state district judge, is representing
> himself in the state district suit he filed Tuesday.
>
> The suit said that broadcasts last year from March 5 to March 15
> wrongly accused Heeter of "being subject to a mental health warrant,
> being previously convicted for indecent exposure, offering a $ 50,000
> bribe to Judge T.O. Stansbury, carrying a gun and threatening to
> cause bodily injury (and) lying about his county of residence in
> order to run for public office."
>
> The Harris County Democratic party decided in May 1998 not to back Heeter
> because of his "personal and professional challenges," said Sue Schechter,
> county Democratic chairwoman, at the time. Heeter dropped out of the
> race before the November 1998 election
>
> [...]
>
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