ICE is spending millions on shock gloves designed to overpower subjects through intense, localized pain.
With the revelation that ICE will spend up to $20 million by March on gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks to subdue an individual, according to a notice published earlier this week by the Department of Homeland Security, it's worth looking at how this apparel, designated as a nonlethal tool for law enforcement, actually works.
These shock gloves go by the unsubtle acronym of GLOVE (Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter) and are manufactured by Compliant Technologies, based in Lexington, Kentucky. The GLOVE, previously used in jails and police departments in the US, looks and functions like a normal pair of patrol gloves until officers press a switch to activate an electrical mode.
Classified as a CD3 (conductive distraction and de-escalation device), the gloves don't work like stun guns or Tasers, which shoot out probes or use high voltages to cause neuromuscular incapacitation that overrides the central nervous system. Instead, the GLOVE works using neuro-peripheral interference, essentially shocking the skin to bombard the sensory nerves and temporarily short-circuit the brain's focus.
Compliant Technologies did not respond to WIRED's request for comment.
When activated via a one-second press on a wrist switch, conductive pads embedded on the palm and undersides of the fingers of the gloves can transmit high-frequency electrical pulses directly to the wearer’s point of contact on a subject. A rechargeable battery and microprocessor module tucked inside a zippered pouch on the cuff powers the entire system.
The electrical pulse overstimulates nerve endings in the subject's peripheral nervous system, resulting in pain that inhibits coordinated muscle movement, but without causing systemic muscle lockup. The pain induced is localized to just the area touched by the glove's conductive pads. The manufacturer claims the gloves result in a subject's compliance in less than three seconds and leave no burns, marks, or scars.
Because the current flows only between the contact pads on the device and across the subject's skin, the officer wearing the GLOVE, as well as any assisting officers holding the subject, should not feel electrical shocks. The gloves, capable of operating between 14 and 122 degrees Fahrenheit, come in three versions: Gen 3, 4, and 5. Maximum voltage is capped at 380 V for all, and the minimum voltage for Gen 3 and 4 is 210 V, which rises to 324 V for Gen 5.
Maximum stimulation time on Gen 3 and 4 models is a sobering two hours, though that drops to 90 minutes for Gen 5. The battery is apparently good for 2,000 charge/discharge cycles, and it can recharge to full in two hours. Four LED lights on the gloves display the current charge level, each noting 25 percent battery increments.
Gen 4 and 5 of GLOVE both include mechanisms that record “activation events,” tracking the date, hour, minute, and skin-contact time for audit trails and after-action reporting. Gen 4 stores this data on a removable microSD card, while Gen 5 does away with this in favor of built-in internal memory, accessed via a USB-C cable.
There's a test function on the gloves, too, where operators can verify they are working by tapping an active pad against their own forearm to feel a minor electrical pulse. According to the manuals, GLOVE users must be certified and then recertified every other year to continue using the device.
GLOVE, which can only be sold to verified professional entities such as the military, correctional facilities, and law enforcement agencies—has some clear usage recommendations in Compliant Technologies' instruction manuals:
No more than two GLOVE units (or, in other words, one pair) should be used simultaneously on a single subject.
Continuous shocks should not exceed 15 seconds.
Operators must target arms and legs, while strictly avoiding the head, face, throat, chest, and groin.
The gloves should not be used on the elderly, young children, pregnant individuals, or people with severe disabilities.
The technology must not be used to counter verbal defiance, as punishment, or for torture.
TIL the reason this inconsistently shows up in notes for the same post is bc if you look at the notes from a reblog, replies from ppl blocked by the reblogger don’t show up but if you look at it from someone else like OP they do show up
Things that would be true of the world if Jews actually ran it:
1) walkable cities
2) more eco-friendly everything
3) your boss couldn't force you to work weekends
4) teachers would get some fucking respect
5) restorative, rather than punitive, justice system
6) heavy-duty social safety net
7) emphasis on community
8) the abortion argument wouldn't be an argument because abortion isn't some fraught tangled issue in Judaism--it's a matter of health to be determined between a pregnant person, their doctor, and their rabbi, and the rabbi's role is basically to provide moral support
9) vaccines wouldn't be an argument. You're getting them because the science shows they protect people and we respect science and learning in this world. You're getting them because it's not all about you-you-you in this world. You have a duty to your community and that includes the preservation of life and health.
10) atheism would be considered a legitimate way of understanding G-d, not a moral failing.
I suspect it would be much easier to determine the exact ingredients of food (for kashrut purposes, also because I think we’re more likely to have food allergies)
I think some of you conflate "being a woman" with "being treated as a woman by society i.e. being oppressed for being seen as a woman" and they're independent variables.
allegories for oppression in media that rely on innate or biological characteristics making someone 'different' will never work for reasons that should be obvious
"uhhhhhh but what if there WAS, like, this species that is just ontologically evil and can't help it" you have rocks in your brain
allegories for oppression in media that rely on innate or biological characteristics making someone 'different' will never work for reasons that should be obvious
"uhhhhhh but what if there WAS, like, this species that is just ontologically evil and can't help it" you have rocks in your brain
i feel like it’s entirely possible to acknowledge the material harm that addiction causes and the trauma that a lot of people have from addicts without being super shitty to addicts in general
i feel like you can talk about the way you’ve personally been hurt by addicts without literally calling addicts the scum of the earth
Hey. If people aren't aware, Microsoft admitted they know who you and where you are at all times and will give your info to the police.
They have a Global Device Identifier (GDID) Tracker that functions as a fingerprint for your PC that can surpass VPNs, proxy servers and countries. Although it can't survive a clean reinstall of Windows (it can survive updates), because Microsoft forces you to go to the internet and log in into a Microsoft account, they will be able to get to you.
Microsoft kept it secret and it was only found out when the FBI tracked a hacker thanks to the information Microsoft gave them.
You should be paying attention to this, and possibly consider moving away from Windows. If a government, especially the US government, doesn't like you for some reason, this could be seriously concerning.
This article specifically notes:
For journalism, activism, or domestic abuse situations, skip Windows and use Linux routed through Tor instead of a commercial VPN. A GDID doesn’t care which VPN you use, only that it’s still the same Windows installation.
GDID is the persistent Windows ID that helped FBI trace a Scattered Spider hacker despite VPNs. Here's how it works and how to limit it.
Other important quotes:
What has researchers uneasy is everything else the case reveals. Costin Raiu, a well-known malware researcher, asked on the Three Buddy Problem podcast how much of this exists on other platforms, and whether it is linked more permanently to hardware. Matthew Hickey, another security researcher, called Windows “surveillance software”.
Two things back that up:
There’s no consent screen. A GDID gets assigned when you sign into a Microsoft Account. Apple’s advertising identifier needs an App Tracking Transparency prompt and a visible reset; Android’s works the same way. GDID has neither, and a Windows reinstall only gets you a new number Microsoft can still get back to the same account.
Then there’s activation. Massgrave, the group behind Microsoft Activation Scripts, notes that Windows setup sends hardware info to Microsoft and gets identifiers back, the same tokens later used for Store access and licensing: “It’s impossible to prevent Windows from getting a GDID without breaking activation and UWP app[s].” Anyone who lost a license after swapping a motherboard has already met a smaller version of this.
Here's the complaint filed to the court, the primary source for the case mentioned in the article. You can find mentions of GDID on page 30 of the document or 34 of the PDF.
as much as everyone loves "the power of love won't save us, we need the power of incredible violence" i'm sorry to rain on your parade but we've actually tried that about ten million times as a species, and you'll be shocked to hear the power of incredible violence, without the power of love behind it, is just brutality. the power of incredible violence has been ruling (various parts of, and then the entire) world for the past 5,000 years. ours is not that damn special.
like yes use that gun you found but WHY are you using it? on who are you using it? what would make you stop using it? is your goal to live in a world where every problem is solved by violence, or is your goal to do the violence necessary to live in a world where that necessity is unthinkable?
they were threatening to KILL two random assholes from the newspaper for asking questions about like, mishandled money and light wiretapping. in 2026 you can be spoken out against by other government employees establishing a surveillance state and using public taxpayer money to fund golf courses and outright stating your intentions to go against multiple constitutional amendments and nothing will happen
Maybe this is a controversial take but honestly, I don't care even if you only mean cis men when you say "kill all men" or "all men suck" because you're contributing to bioessentialism/gender essentialism and generalizing an entire group of people to be bad and even perpetuating the idea that men who do shitty things to them because "they can't help it due to being men". You're not dismantling the patriarchy, you're contributing to it.
I’m actually going to reblog a thing just because this is really important.
As someone who has epilepsy and used to have several grand mal seizures a day, I’d also like to add that “offer help” can range anywhere from keeping the person calm to explaining to them where they are and what they were doing to even just telling them they should sit and rest for a while longer (lack or coordination is common, and it can be hard to walk straight or see clearly).
It’s okay for them to take up to a half hour to fully regain their bearings and sort out what they were doing prior to the seizure. Just answer any questions calmly and be there for support.
If they come around and you start to panic or shake them or ask them what the heck is wrong with them they are going to freak out and panic too.
I cannot stress it enough that this is bad.
If someone has a seizure and they come out of it, please. please stay calm.
They are likely disoriented and confused, even if it’s only for a minute or two, and you don’t want them panicking on top of that because they can have another seizure as a result.
Just to add: if the seizure lasts longer than 15 minutes, call an ambulance. There’s a good chance of brain damage at that point and they need medical attention. That’s why you time seizures.
Love how in progressive spaces a minority group can espouse discomfort, frustration, endorse discrimination, even explicit hostility against majority/oppressive groups, and it's acceptable because they've Been Through It and it's Understandable given what they experience at the hands of that group.
But Jewish people must prioritize other bigotries above antisemitism, must cater to the groups that have and are targeting us, must assure them that we would never feel so much as distrust towards people chanting for our literal eradication. You feel the discomfort in your body reading that? The compulsion you're experiencing right now? Yeah, I feel it too writing this - I've toned it down twice. Why is that.
