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I don't think that you are going to get any experienced diver supporting anything "mandatory" in diving, but we might want to think about how people outside of diving might see this.
I lost two good friends over the past month (Lynne and Tom). Neither of them were ever found, but both of their accidents triggered a massive air and sea search by the Coast Guard, over several days. That was paid for by the taxpayers, and wasn't cheap. To me, that's fine, that's one of the reasons that we pay taxes, but we shouldn't pretend that everyone shares our priorities.
So maybe not for a swim over a Caribbean reef in 30 feet of water, but I can certainly see someone in authority who is not a diver pushing for a transponder like that on bigger dives.
I see your point. But it may be a slippery slope. The diver of his own free will decides not to take a device that would locate his body and it costs tax dollars. An analogy may be smokers/drinkers/drug addicts/red meat lovers in a country with "socialized" medicine. Do they deserve tax dollars for "free" medical? Motorcyclists, hang gliders, etc.....?