] The anklet, called a Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol
] Monitor (SCRAM), will stay attached to the 46-year-old
] man for at least 90 days, testing his perspiration for
] the presence of alcohol every hour and transmitting the
] results to a monitor/modem device once a day.
]
] The modem then sends the information to a company in
] Colorado that puts the results on the Internet so
] England's probation officer can see if he's consumed any
] alcohol.

On one hand, I can see this as being a great alternative to someone that has made a huge mistake, such as driving drunk. On the other hand, though, it's promoting a prohibition era type of mentality in that drinking is targeted as the offense, not drinking and driving. It seems like a much better mechanism would be a cut-off device for a vehicle that requires the owner to blow into it before it will start - I've read of these before. It also doesn't address alcoholism in a logical manner, because alcoholism is a disease rather than a simple choice. Drinking and driving can easily be stopped cold turkey, so to speak, by taking away the driving privelege. Then there's the issue of privacy - it's one thing to pay for your crime, it's another to potentially have your identity online just waiting to be duplicated by an ID thief. There's no detail as to what information is available to parole officers, but if it's online, it becomes a potential target for thieves.

Oh, well, enough ranting on this one topic for now. I'm sure others will jump in and carry the torch.

Ankle band tracks DUI offenders