Federal authorities in Germany intend to use police dogs to track activists at the upcoming G8 summit, according to the Associated Press. A spokesman for the federal prosecutor's office has confirmed that the police have already taken scent samples from "several" activists.

Scent tracking was a tool of the Stasi, the notorious East German secret police. The AP story quotes Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble saying that "potentially violent" activists may be placed in "preventative detention" for up to two weeks. The summit will be taking place in Heiligendamm, a Baltic Sea resort town in the former East Germany, from June 6-8. If you think this kind of thing could not happen here in the U.S., take a look at this recent item on the "Danger Room" blog. A U.S. government research agency is hoping to develop a device to "collect human scent for future use to track a specific target."