by Sphinx Arms of Interlaken, Switzerland, who is affiliated with the company making the KRISS Vector, is taking great issue with a report on Swiss National Television reporting that it developed a technology for firearms and ammunition tracking. Sphinx denies developing any such technology and says the developer is actually another Swiss-based company Nano-ID Security Systems. Moreover, the TV report said the technology allows tracking from the air up to a kilometer away which Sphinx says is totally inaccurate.
From their press release on it:
Interlaken – 25.03.2013 – Sphinx Arms denies the information provided during a segment of the Swiss National Television’s news, wrongly stating that it had developed a ground-breaking technology to be used for firearms and ammunition tracing. This technology has been developed by Nano-ID Security Systems, a Swiss based company, which has requested Sphinx Arms to test and evaluate this technology only in conjunction with a project for sensitive material tracing and authentication in Switzerland. One of the key features of this technology is to prevent alterations or defacing of serial numbers.
Sphinx Arms confirms that no identification solution has been deployed and will not be deployed in any of its firearms produced and exported to countries out of Switzerland, unless mandated by law from a sovereign country or state. A project, exclusive to Switzerland, is currently being evaluated as a potential marking solution for special categories of firearms. The adoption of such a marking solution, based on Switzerland’s political system, would first require to be submitted to Swiss citizens for voting and adoption, prior to its deployment by Swiss authorities. As a Swiss based manufacturer, Sphinx emphasizes that it will comply with any Swiss state and federal laws, as well as foreign government policies that would be required for firearms importation, exportation and distribution.
The Nano based identification system, applied on firearms, does not allow any form of remote identification, real-time tracking or energy output, making it impossible to transmit or compromise sensitive data. Data can only be accessed through specific readers, similar to a bar code system, that are only made available to Law Enforcement and Governmental entities which would require a maximum of 10 inches of distance, with an unobstructed line of sight, between the reader and the tag to be effective.
GearScout has more on the controversy including a link to the German language report.