How do SCRAM Bracelets Work?

Us Weekly, our favorite guilty pleasure, puts on its techie diva hat to tell us how those SCRAM ankle bracelets work. You might remember one Lindsay Lohan wearing a SCRAM bracelet after her stint in rehab earlier this year--you know, the one before the one she's currently in. She voluntarily strapped the alcohol monitoring system as way of showing the courts--and the world--that she intended to stay sober. Unfortunately, you know how that story ended, but the day she relapsed her lawyer was the first to know.

Apparently, "the ankle bracelet checks the sweat of its wearer for alcohol once an hour, and stores the data. The ankle bracelet is assigned an external modem, and the wearer arranges to be within 30 feet of the modem once a day to transmit the information to a monitoring company. If the wearer misses the daily check in, tries to tamper with the device by cutting it off or drinks alcohol, a "violation" is issued, and her probation officer (if SCRAM was mandated by court), or lawyer would learn when they receive their daily report from the monitoring company." Too bad it only detects alcohol, which means those wearing one could be resorting to more creative ways of getting wasted. Via Us Weekly