Thursday, December 6, 2007  Sex panic going hi-tech  When
someone emailed me yesterday about Offendar, I thought it was a
joke. Or maybe a typo. But, no. Some greedy techno-entrepreneurs
have found another way (they hope) to capitalize on the current
sex panic in the United States.  What is Offendar? It's a
portable "personal threat detection system" that sounds an alarm
whenever someone nearby is wearing an electronic ankle bracelet.
It's not in use yet. But a rabidly tough-on-crime lawmaker in
Ohio invited the maker to demonstrate it yesterday before state
lawmakers. Offendar LLC is hoping that the Ohio state senator
Tim Grendell will help pass legislation requiring that the
technology for the device be inserted into existing ankle
bracelets.  I'm guessing that would be necessary because so many
people other than sex offenders are required to wear ankle
bracelets these days. It's a common method for courts to keep
track of people out on bail for misdemeanor offenses such as
drunk driving. Here in Contra Co