R.I. grade-schoolers to be tracked by computer chips in backpacks

[superconnected]

Source: Associated Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - A tech company with ties to a school district plans to test a tracking system by putting computer chips on grade-schoolers' backpacks, an experiment the ACLU ripped Monday as invasive and unnecessary.

The pilot program set to start next week in the Middletown school district would have about 80 children put tags containing radio frequency identification chips, or RFID chips, on their schoolbags. It would also equip two buses with global positioning systems, or GPS devices.

The school and parents will be able to track students on the bus, and the district hopes the program will improve busing efficiency, Superintendent Rosemarie Kraeger said. The devices are intended to record only when students enter and exit the bus, and the GPS would show where the bus was on it's route.

Parents could opt out of the program, Kraeger said.


Read more: http://www.komotv.com/news/national/13524982.html

[lvx35]

1. Its not so bad if parents do it.

If anybody should be tracked, its children. Being able to locate little kids isn't scary, because little kids don't have "civil liberties" as far as mom and dad are concerned. But a state system to do it is just creepy.

[downindixie]

2. If their going to do it

they should be tracked no mater where they are!

[jmm]

3. This reminds me of an old joke

When NASA first started sending astronauts into space, they realized that ball-point pens wouldn't work in zero gravity.

A million dollar investment and two years of test resulted in a pen that could write in space, upside-down, on almost any surface and at temperatures from sub-zero to 300 degrees.

When confronted with the same problem the Russians took a pencil.

We don't need GPS on children and a bus to prove children are on a bus. If this goes past the pilot program I can only imagine how quickly it will take for them to expand this.

[Thor_MN]

4. How long until someone leaves their backpack on the bus or at school?

Or takes the wrong backpack home? This program does not track children, it tracks backpacks.

[rayofreason]

5. Implants...

...that's what we need!

RFID in backs, not backpacks!

[Bill McBlueState]

11. good call

"Hey, why has Hunter been hiding in his locker for three hours?"

[AX10]

6. I'm glad I graduated school when I did.

[abelenkpe]

7. yeah, it's creepy and invasive

But I cannot tell you how many times I've thought: perhaps I should equip my little ones with gps? Parents worry. A phone with gps would be nice so one could locate them if they get lost or wander away from school....as I use to. I use to walk to school and maybe once a week decide to go home or to the playground after recess instead of going back in to class. I also use to sneak out at night and wander down the two lane highway over to the farm about a half mile away to look at the horses and cows when I was five or so. Geez if my kids were to do that I would have a heart attack! O now I'm gonna slink off and go worry....

[Lautremont]

8. My solution would be cheaper.

Keep children in restraining pens that don't allow them to move or even sit down. Shine bright lights on them so you can always see them, and if they seem to be going to sleep, throw a bucket of ice water on them so you know they're still alive.

I realize there are predators and creeps out there, but this chip thing is crazy.

[Sabriel]

9. Don't implant the chip in lunch bags

My kids are forever leaving them somewhere.

This is yet another obscene example of getting citizens used to the idea of using RFID chips, to "track children," to "improve busing efficiency"....

Sounds harmless and useful, eh?

[Hekate]

10. First pets got chips.Owners can see they do no harm.Some employers tried, but...

...most workers aren't really ready for this yet. People are a bit creeped that the products they buy could have RFIDs, but mostly they don't know about it.

But right along, I've been expecting that children would the next most logical target, because the authorities can so easily play on parental fears. After all, if the family dog has a chip and he's perfectly healthy, why wouldn't you want that same "protection" for your children?

:scared: No thanks.

Hekate

[Robb]

12. Let's remember the pet chips aren't trackers, per se

...It's a way for a pet, that can't speak, to say "My name is Rufus, and I live at XXXX, call my mom!"

RFID is a tool, like a hammer or a knife. Good and bad there. Ski resorts have been using RFID for years, helps them figure out where they need high-speed chair lifts, for example.

[superconnected]

14. I expect sex offenders to be the first group required to have it.

Children will probably stay optional for a while. But since people will do this to their kids for "safety" I expect them to get used to it so eventually they'll accept it when the gov wants to make it mandatory.

[Hekate]

16. Military personnel, for sure. nt

[JBoy]

13. Kids will be able to outsmart this, unfortunately

"Hey Bobby, take my backpack with you. I'm going with this nice man - he's going to give me some candy!"

[Xithras]

15. Am I the only one who doesn't have a problem with this?

Hypothetical situation. Imagine if your kids school bus drivers had a LIST (shock! gasp!) of the students who were supposed to be on each bus (horror! what an invasion!) and the drivers were asked to check their names off each day to figure out who did and didn't show up (faint at the abuse!). Now imagine if that bus had a RADIO (no! don't go there!) where people on the other end could CONTACT the bus (I'm scared now!) and ask where it was (shocking!) and whether a particular student was onboard (what an outrageous violation!)

Oh...wait. School districts across the country already do that every day. Silly me.

This is the exact same thing, you're just replacing the pen and paper with a microchip. The people who rail against simple technology like this are probably the same people who moaned that the proliferation of computers in the 80's was going to dehumanize us and put us all out of work. Technology isn't evil. Ludditism is.