Preschool Tracking Students with RFID Chips in School Uniforms

[KissMy]

Reading, Writing, and RFID Chips

Scary news from California's Contra Costa County — school officials there have reportedly decided to track some preschoolers with RFID chips, thanks to a federal grant supplying the funding.

According to a story from the Associated Press, the students will wear a jersey at school that has the RFID tag attached. The tag will track the children's movements and collect other data, like if the child has eaten or not. According to a Contra Costa County official, this is a cost-savings move, as teachers used to have to manually keep track of a child's attendance and meal schedule.

But of course, an RFID chip allows for far more than that minimal record-keeping. Instead, it provides the potential for nearly constant monitoring of a child's physical location. If readings are taken often enough, you could create an extraordinarily detailed portrait of a child's school day — one that's easy to imagine being misused, particularly as the chips substitute for direct adult monitoring and judgment. If RFID records show a child moving around a lot, could she be tagged as hyper-active? If he doesn't move around a lot, could he get a reputation for laziness? How long will this data and the conclusions rightly or wrongly drawn from it be stored in these children's school records? Can parents opt-out of this invasive tracking? How many other federal grants are underwriting programs like these?

These are questions that desperately need answers. California is in the middle of a terrible budget crunch, but the solution is not federally funded surveillance of children who are too young to understand the implications.

 

[xotoxi]

Reading, Writing, and RFID Chips

Scary news from California's Contra Costa County — school officials there have reportedly decided to track some preschoolers with RFID chips, thanks to a federal grant supplying the funding.

According to a story from the Associated Press, the students will wear a jersey at school that has the RFID tag attached. The tag will track the children's movements and collect other data, like if the child has eaten or not. According to a Contra Costa County official, this is a cost-savings move, as teachers used to have to manually keep track of a child's attendance and meal schedule.

But of course, an RFID chip allows for far more than that minimal record-keeping. Instead, it provides the potential for nearly constant monitoring of a child's physical location. If readings are taken often enough, you could create an extraordinarily detailed portrait of a child's school day — one that's easy to imagine being misused, particularly as the chips substitute for direct adult monitoring and judgment. If RFID records show a child moving around a lot, could she be tagged as hyper-active? If he doesn't move around a lot, could he get a reputation for laziness? How long will this data and the conclusions rightly or wrongly drawn from it be stored in these children's school records? Can parents opt-out of this invasive tracking? How many other federal grants are underwriting programs like these?

These are questions that desperately need answers. California is in the middle of a terrible budget crunch, but the solution is not federally funded surveillance of children who are too young to understand the implications.

I think a simple DNA test would be easier.

In fact, they could set up a searchable database of all of the kids.

 

[Ravi]

The little buggers could really mess with the teacher's heads by switching shirts.

 

[konradv]

Reading, Writing, and RFID Chips

Scary news from California's Contra Costa County — school officials there have reportedly decided to track some preschoolers with RFID chips, thanks to a federal grant supplying the funding.

According to a story from the Associated Press, the students will wear a jersey at school that has the RFID tag attached. The tag will track the children's movements and collect other data, like if the child has eaten or not. According to a Contra Costa County official, this is a cost-savings move, as teachers used to have to manually keep track of a child's attendance and meal schedule.

But of course, an RFID chip allows for far more than that minimal record-keeping. Instead, it provides the potential for nearly constant monitoring of a child's physical location. If readings are taken often enough, you could create an extraordinarily detailed portrait of a child's school day — one that's easy to imagine being misused, particularly as the chips substitute for direct adult monitoring and judgment. If RFID records show a child moving around a lot, could she be tagged as hyper-active? If he doesn't move around a lot, could he get a reputation for laziness? How long will this data and the conclusions rightly or wrongly drawn from it be stored in these children's school records? Can parents opt-out of this invasive tracking? How many other federal grants are underwriting programs like these?

These are questions that desperately need answers. California is in the middle of a terrible budget crunch, but the solution is not federally funded surveillance of children who are too young to understand the implications.

I think a simple DNA test would be easier.

In fact, they could set up a searchable database of all of the kids.

How would a DNA database help you find a kid? The RFID enables a snatched kid to be tracked, for example. Sounds like an excellent tool, especially if used on field trips, to keep tabs on where all the kids are and prevent wandering off.

 

[Madeline]

Just chip the kiddies.

 

[syrenn]

The little buggers could really mess with the teacher's heads by switching shirts.

LMAO!

The way i see it, if we can chip our animals then we sure as hell should be able to chip our children!

 

[Ravi]

The little buggers could really mess with the teacher's heads by switching shirts.

LMAO!

The way i see it, if we can chip our animals then we sure as hell should be able to chip our children!

They could also all take off their shirts and throw them over the fence and out in the street...

 

[Madeline]

Is it silly to ask why a school is interested in the whereabouts of preschoolers?

 

[syrenn]

The little buggers could really mess with the teacher's heads by switching shirts.

LMAO!

The way i see it, if we can chip our animals then we sure as hell should be able to chip our children!

They could also all take off their shirts and throw them over the fence and out in the street...

Toss them in the back of some unsuspecting persons car

 

[syrenn]

Is it silly to ask why a school is interested in the whereabouts of preschoolers?

It was my day to pick up my nephew from school for my brother. I got there and looked for him...and no kid im not panicking yet and ask the teachers where is my nephew. One of them pipes up and says "someone" took him home.

OMG...WHO?!?!?!?! Did jeforey dommer pick up my nephew!!!! Im on the phone to my brother in about a half second telling him that "someone" picked him up but the teachers dont seem to know who.

it takes them about 15 mins to figure out it was his dead beat mother. She picked him up on a day that she had no business picking him up.

That was a day i would have wanted a chipped nephew!

 

[konradv]

Is it silly to ask why a school is interested in the whereabouts of preschoolers?

Since they're responsible for them, I think it'd be silly not to be interested in their whereabouts. Legal issues and all that.

 

[Luissa]

I probably need to get one of these for my kid. You have to watch the kid like a hawk.

The first people to sue over this, would be the ones suing if the Pre School misplace their child.