Service dog tags in Traveller

[l_c_jackson]

I'm considering introducing dog tags (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogtags) for Traveller service personnel in my universe. The advantage over relying on biometric scanners alone for ID is that the tags may survive the destruction of a dead body by biological, chemical, or physical means. Tags also work at low technology levels, and they are cheap.

Do such tags feature anywhere in the Traveller rules etc? How might they be mass-produced to be cheap, and durable under extreme conditions (deep space, hostile atmospheres etc), and ideally difficult to forge?

In low-technology situations, where biometric ID is not available, or where you need to quickly assess a stranger who is not on your biometric database, could such tags also serve as a primitive form of ID card?

Any thoughts on this topic please?

Thanks, Lindsay Jackson.

 

[Supplement Four]

Gvoudzon, Emissary of the Legion of Superior Uplifts, would like to petition you to use the more politically correct phrase of "Combat Information Displays", or "Sids", rather than the archaic "Dog Tags".

He says it's as offensive as referring to the Second Empire as the "Rule of Man" (although he has no problem with the term "Ramshackel Empire").

If you would, please, temper your thread to reflect the delicate preferences of the Vargr.

Remember: They're Imperial Citizens, too.

 

[rancke]

I'm considering introducing dog tags (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogtags) for Traveller service personnel in my universe. The advantage over relying on biometric scanners alone for ID is that the tags may survive the destruction of a dead body by biological, chemical, or physical means. Tags also work at low technology levels, and they are cheap.

Do such tags feature anywhere in the Traveller rules etc?

Not to my knowledge.

How might they be mass-produced to be cheap, and durable under extreme conditions (deep space, hostile atmospheres etc), and ideally difficult to forge?

I would simply assume that they can be mass-produced cheaply. We don't know enough about TL15 manufacturing to say for sure, but they're probably no more difficult to manufacture than Imperial coins.

In low-technology situations, where biometric ID is not available, or where you need to quickly assess a stranger who is not on your biometric database, could such tags also serve as a primitive form of ID card?

I don't see why not. However, a low tech levels it would probably be impossible to detect forgeries.

Any thoughts on this topic please?

I think an RFID chip embedded in a bone might be used as an additional identification means. Reading it with a chip reader will provide an electronic copy to take with you, and the chip will remain with the body for any number of subsequent identification checks.


Hans

 

[rancke]

Don't let ol' Gvoudzon intimidate you; his bark is worse than his bite.

-- Houzthan, Emissary[*] for the Imperial Civil Liberties Defense League

[*] Sorry, spokesman... no no, I mean spokesperson, that is to say, spokesbeing.... Oh, <censored>!​

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

Dear Sir.

Gvoudzon, Emissary of the Legion of Superior Uplifts, would like to petition you to use the more politically correct phrase of "Combat Information Displays", or "Sids", rather than the archaic "Dog Tags".

He says it's as offensive as referring to the Second Empire as the "Rule of Man" (although he has no problem with the term "Ramshackel Empire").

If you would, please, temper your thread to reflect the delicate preferences of the Vargr.

Remember: They're Imperial Citizens, too.

Dear Excellency Gvoudzon,

Being of Terran decent, I am curious as to the offensive nature of the phrase "Rule of Man"? and why the derogatory term "Ramshackle Empire" is not considered offensive? Especially since I seem to recall the Ziru Sirka was not particularly fond of the Vargr and their freebooting ways.

Yours most humbly,
Magnus von Thornwood, Baron Regina, etc., etc.
​

Now as for Dog Tags sure, go with your bad self. Think about, we still use them here on TL-8 Earth though we do back them up now with DNA samples, but then again you could include that possibly encoded in a micro-matrix machine readable display along with relevant medical, payroll, etc.

And never forget the coolness factor. That alone says go for it. They are one of those societal symbols of belonging to the warrior culture.

 

[Icosahedron]

The problem with RFID chips embedded in your body is that you can't ditch them if you need to (eg escaping POW). What you really need is to embed them in your politically correct ID tag.

How about a silent and rugged black plastic tag with a red data strip, and for the benefit of low tech worlds, the soldier's name and serial number in white lettering...

 

[BlackBat242]

I would make them out of the same material as starship hull armor... but with an embedded* basic data-set (ID info, emergency medical info (like drug allergies, etc) including DNA code) readable by an optical scanner.

You would get a new set when promoted or when a significant change in medical details occurs.



They would also have the most basic info (name, rank, service, etc) easily readable.


* physically carved into the bottom of grooves like an old vinyl record

 

[Hemdian]

IMTU the IN uses electronic dog tags (called "ident chips") with built in microcircuitry to autheticate the wearer. Ident Chips contain the retina scan and DNA profile of the owner plus current "security permissions" (virtual keys). They are frequently checked for access to high security areas or to access secured computer terminals. Ident Chips use strong encryption methods to preserve authenticity and make forgeries extremely difficult. Low level authentication is achieved by a very short range RFID (less than 0.5 meter range), high level authentication requires direct contact.

 

[aramis]

Mine are pretty much like Hemidan's. They are worn like dog tags are, but are somewhat smaller (1x3 cm), and pdated frequently; after 3 months, any authorizations fail.

 

[BlackBat242]

Yep... and they fail the primary purpose of dog tags... to survive severe damage to the wearer's body, so as to provide quick identification when the body is unidentifiable by "normal" means (non-DNA).

Your fancy electronic IDs won't remain intact in the backwash of a FGMP.

 

[Whipsnade]

Any thoughts on this topic please?

LC,

My thoughts are that you should write this up and submit it to Freelance Traveller.


Regards,
Bill

 

[aramis]

Yep... and they fail the primary purpose of dog tags... to survive severe damage to the wearer's body, so as to provide quick identification when the body is unidentifiable by "normal" means (non-DNA).

Your fancy electronic IDs won't remain intact in the backwash of a FGMP.

Neither will the aluminum tags issued in the 80's, nor the steel ones in the 50's... Lots of guys were ID'd by presumption, not tags, even then. (As in, "it's the right location, and the right blood type, so odds are it's ___.")

 

[BlackBat242]

I'm considering introducing dog tags (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogtags) for Traveller service personnel in my universe. The advantage over relying on biometric scanners alone for ID is that the tags may survive the destruction of a dead body by biological, chemical, or physical means. Tags also work at low technology levels, and they are cheap.

Do such tags feature anywhere in the Traveller rules etc? How might they be mass-produced to be cheap, and durable under extreme conditions (deep space, hostile atmospheres etc), and ideally difficult to forge?

In low-technology situations, where biometric ID is not available, or where you need to quickly assess a stranger who is not on your biometric database, could such tags also serve as a primitive form of ID card?

Any thoughts on this topic please?

Thanks, Lindsay Jackson.

Aramis, not the colored portions of the thread originating post?

This is what l_c_jackson was looking for... the ID tags I was taking issue with don't meet his criteria.


I was trying to keep the discussion focused on dealing with those concerns.

 

[rancke]

Your fancy electronic IDs won't remain intact in the backwash of a FGMP.

Not if they're made at TL7, no. I suspect TL15 RFID chips to have improved a tiny bit.


Hans

 

[Seriayne]

Not if they're made at TL7, no. I suspect TL15 RFID chips to have improved a tiny bit.


Hans

Bonded Superdense coating - TL14.

I dunno about RFID though. Gamma Tags are resistant to high radiation, but I'm not so sure about EMP. The same accessibility by radio would probably mean that EMP would knock it out, unless it had a very distinctive frequency it was geared for. Or a completely different data storage methodology could be implemented - The problem with a lot of non-volatile data is that you'd have to access the device itself (removal or some sorta probe perhaps) to get the data.

For a high tech soldier, I'd expect them to place it in the most protected part of the body, say, inside the base of the skull somewhere. That way, there's at least a chance of ID retrieval after the effects of some of the nastier things that exist on a Traveller battlefield.

As to expense vs techlevel, I'd say these things could be mass produced on any number of high tech worlds and used by even the lowest tech armies in the Imperium (or the Solomani Sphere, or equiv). The cost wouldn't be -that- much more expensive considering how tiny these are vs. the benefit they'd give. Worn dogtags may still be issued as a secondary 'quick glance' method and still mass produced cheaply out of TL14 mats, for durability, as a traditional service issue, but probably wouldn't be relied upon in strict security situations.

 

[aramis]

And if the physical case survives, that case can be engraved with an ID code. The RFID is so that the soldier has less to use or lose.

 

[Icosahedron]

I've been looking at the current fashion for laser engraving in the depths of a glass block as a means of non-volatile data storage. I figure these may be the basis of the Traveller 'holographic crystal'. No amount of surface damage will erase the data, as all you need to do is re-polish the surface. The data can be encoded, holographic, and the material doesn't need to be fragile or transparent. Many materials are opaque to visible light but transparent to IR or UV, so I could still have my black and red tags.

 

[Peter Newman]

Yep... and they fail the primary purpose of dog tags... to survive severe damage to the wearer's body, so as to provide quick identification when the body is unidentifiable by "normal" means (non-DNA).

Your fancy electronic IDs won't remain intact in the backwash of a FGMP.

You put the fancy electronic stuff inside of a small hunk of metal. Think of an ID badge made of superdense with your name, rank & serial number embossed into it like a credit card and everything else inside of it like an ultratech thumb drive. Even if the data is fried (not as likely as you'd think) they'll have to get the card over the melting point of superdense to erase the surface features. Anything that does that will have vaporized your body anyway.

 

[selunatic2397]

Since most of my players are hardcore gears of war fans, I use a flashdrive version of the Cog Tags.

With upgrades to them by the upper tech levels they should be capable of holding a soldier's entire life history including helmetcam footage of his performance in combat. By tech 10 or so they should be pert near indestructable...or more so than the soldier wearing them.

Heck, you could probably even view just what he did to earn that SEH!

 

[HG_B]

How 'bout (for higher tech) something you are and something you have (tag) when combined produces a kind of hash value so another can't use it, even a clone...?