Electronic Handcuffs: More Warnings From Law Enforcement ...

Next-Gen Law Enforcement Handcuff System Revealed ... While researching tech patents from some of the top companies in the industry as we do every week, we happened to stumble upon a stray patent that just happened to reveal a next generation system of restraining devices such as handcuffs for law enforcement. While the new system focuses on handcuffs, the inventors clarified that the new system could equally apply to ankle cuffs, straightjackets, neck collars, helmets and even facial restraints such as the one used in the film Hannibal. The next generation handcuffs will be super high tech with built-in sensors such as accelerometers, potentiometer, inclinometer, biometric sensors, camera sensors and more. But the kicker to this invention is that these future handcuffs will be able to combine standard restraining mechanisms alongside those that could deliver a powerful electric shock to detainees and/or administer medications to sedate or irritate them. Whether you're in law enforcement or in an activist group, it's an interesting read that will keep your interest. Yes, the cuffs are designed to restrain "the bad guys," but it sure looks as though there's potential here for abuse in the form of mild torture. – PatentBolt

Dominant Social Theme: This is just an innovation, not a threat.

Free-Market Analysis: PatentBolt covers "innovation" via patents, as we can see from the above write-up. The dominant social theme has to do with the efficiency of law enforcement in the US and the advances that are being made in prisoner treatment.

But the reality, as we've pointed, out is perhaps more sinister. The subdominant social theme might be, "Here's something else we can use on you if you step out of line."

The group that applied for the patent is not well known and filed the claim in late 2010. We searched the Internet to find out more about the group – Scottsdale Inventions, LLC – but didn't come up with anything.

We figure they must be involved with law enforcement in one way or another. And from our point of view, such releases are making a significant statement.

The messaging of authoritarianism in a brutal country tends to be brutal. But in the US, and in the West in general, there is a large, informed and active population when it comes to human rights and democratic involvement.

Place something on a patent portal and sooner or later it may generate the requisite impact.

This is analogous to the video that went up not so long ago regarding Muammar Gadhaffi's death. We watched the BBC channel recently and noted that the announcer warned people against flashes going off in video clips from flash cameras.

This is the way Western media coverage is these days – hypersensitive. And yet when Gaddafi died, videos of his death and even his supposed buggery were splashed all over the Internet.

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