Originally Posted by late

"The first written laws appeared in Athens around 621 B.C. They were attributed to Dracon, a thesmothes (a lawgiver). The punishment for all offenses was death. Regardless of how small or serious the infraction the punishment was the same. Dracon felt that people guilty of small infractions of the law deserved the death penalty and that there was, after all, no greater penalty for those that had committed the more serious infractions. As a result, laws today which are cruel and harsh are sometimes referred to as Draconian."

Draconian? Maybe if they cut off your legs. But a bicycle tag?
I'm not sure that wouldn't be a good idea. It would give the city a database of the bikes in the city; if they're smart they'll include the serial number... If they find a stolen bike, they could then contact the owner. If a cop suspects the provenance of a bike, he could determine it's rightful owner in a minute if the system was set up right.