TAG°

noun and verb (People and Society) (Science and Technology) noun: An electronic marker which makes it possible to track the whereabouts of the person or thing to which it is attached. transitive verb: To mark (a person or thing) with an electronic tag so as to control or monitor movement. Etymology: A specialized sense of tag which represents a metaphorical extension of the meaning 'a label attached to something'. History and Usage: Electronic tags have been used to control shoplifting since the end of the seventies; usually they take the form of a heavy plastic label which must be detached from the goods by a shop assistant using a special machine before the goods can be removed from the shop without setting off an alarm. Similar tags for people had been tried in mental institutions in the US during the sixties. In the late eighties this idea was extended to prisoners and people on parole. In this tagging system a small electronic beacon was attached by a band to the person's wrist or ankle; the signals from the beacon could be monitored by a central computer so that the whereabouts of any person wearing the tag (also known as an offender's tag) would always be known. A determined-enough shoplifter can remove any electronic tag--but not readily. Tags have been found gnawed in half and left bloodied on fitting-room floors. Fortune 25 Feb. 1980, p. 115 The tag, designed for the petty criminal, can be fitted to the leg, neck or wrist. It is controlled by a central computer, which rings the offender at home at random intervals. The Times 9 Feb. 1988, p. 5 The latest statistics point to a majority of people working with offenders as being in favour of tagging as a potential reducer of the prison population and hence of crime. Daily Telegraph 20 Dec. 1989, p. 14