Cradle to grave monitoring and control has long been the hallmark of a servile society wherein people are reduced to property of the state. Now, before even reaching the cradle, dripping wet infants, fresh from the birth canal, can be tagged, monitored, inventoried and "protected" with this latest institutional technology.

From www.xmark.com—Xmark announced that its Hugs® infant protection system helped to protect more than one million infants in 2007, representing approximately a quarter of all infants born in the United States. The Hugs system is the most chosen product for infant protection, thanks to its comprehensive security, ease of use through a wealth of automatic features, and wide range of support services and programs offered by Xmark.

HUGS

The Hugs System Advantage is an easy-attach tag which attaches in seconds and automatically enrolls the infant in the software. Protection can start right in the delivery room. The Hugs system requires no manual checks of infant tags or other devices to make sure they’re working. The Hugs system software ­continually monitors the status of all devices, and will generate an alarm if something goes wrong.

With the Kisses® option, the Hugs system automatically confirms that the right baby is with the right mother. There are no buttons to push, no numbers to match and no wall-mounted lamps to check.

The By Your Side™ program for the Hugs system ensures that every customer will be successful with infant protection. Xmark is with you every step of the way as you implement and use your system, with a wide range of materials and services.

The Hugs system offers a wide range of viewing options. Users only see the menus and commands they need, all in a standard Windows-based PC environment. The integrated CCTV option enables you to see what is happening at an exit during a door alarm, right from within the Hugs user interface—you have the essential information you need to respond appropriately.

The Hugs system ensures full supervision of all components, including the tag, with each tag sending a Heartbeat® status message every 10 seconds. If the system doesn’t receive these messages for a specified time period, an alarm is automatically generated. The Halo™ system is not just the leading infant protection product based on skin-sensing technology. It’s also the only system that offers staff tags for easy and secure bypass of exits, and the ability to locate infants at any time.

The distributed intelligence of the halo system architecture ensures that exits are covered even in the event of a PC failure or a problem with the hospital network. The Halo system makes it easy to move infants around your facility. They can be transported via a computer or at a keypad at the door. While wearing the optional pendant tag, you don’t have to do anything at all just take the infant through the doorway and the system will record the event.

The tag also features tag pulse technology: it emits a regular signal that is monitored by the system. If for any reason this signal is not received, a warning is generated in the Halo™ software. The Halo tag can be attached using a number of different bands, including Velcro straps and 3M Coband.

The staff tag enables staff members to move a monitored infant through an exit without pressing a button. The system automatically unlocks the door, and records the identity of the staff member and the infant he/she is escorting.

The Door Controller monitors exits from the safe area (usually the OB unit). Installed above or beside the doorway, the Door Controller emits a detection field that covers the opening. When a Halo tag approaches the open exit, an alarm is immediately generated in the Halo software. The Door Controller also includes a keypad for staff to escort an infant through the exit without causing an alarm. An Elevator Controller provides door coverage in elevators. The Elevator Controller travels with the elevator car, providing protection for all floors. This saves on installing a door controller on every floor of a multi-floor facility.

The Halo system is controlled by a central Server PC, which monitors all devices and reports all alarms. In addition, the system supports any number of Consoles to provide reporting of alarms at multiple locations.

The Receiver is a radio frequency reception device that picks up tamper alarm and pulse signals from Halo tags, and relays them to the Halo server PC. Receivers are installed at regular intervals throughout the monitored area of the facility, usually out of sight above the ceiling.

So if you chose to have a hospital birth in a Halo™ equipped hospital, whose child is it anyway? If you don’t approve of the treatment they will automatically administer after birth, can you leave with your child? Are we to become property of the institutional state starting now literally at birth?

Besides monitoring infant vitals, location and transfers, what other data and information does the Halo™ system store or implement? Their "By Your Side™ program … is with you every step of the way as you implement and use your system, with a wide range of materials and services."

With advancing technology, Big Brother is waiting for you, even as you emerge into this world.

www.proliberty.com/observer/20080915.htm