Spy chips in UK school uniforms
p2pnet news | Freedom:- School authorities in Osaka, Japan, reckoned tagging schoolchildren with spy chips was a good idea.
That was back in 2004, and a year later, parents in Sutter, California, were outraged when they discovered Brittan Elementary School was using RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) spy chips to track students who are, ‘required to prominently display the badges by wearing them around the neck at all times’.”
Nothing loathe, a school in Britain admits school pupils are having their “every step traced” via RFID spy chips embedded in their school uniforms.
“Currently ten pupils at Hungerhill School in Edenthorpe are having their movements monitored by radio technology, but its Doncaster makers hope the system could soon be attached to every school uniform in the country, if the pilot scheme proves successful,” says the Doncaster Free Press, going on:
David Clouter, a parent who founded the “Leave them kids alone” organisation to oppose the fingerprinting of children in school, said: “To put this in a school badge is complete and utter surveillance of the children. Tagging is what we do to criminals we let out of prison early. With pupils being fingerprinted and now this it seems we are treating children in a way that we have traditionally treated criminals. It’s the first time I’ve ever heard of this happening and I think it’s appalling. I’m not sure how it will support personalised learning to track a pupil. You need to know the pupils individually and develop a relationship with them to find out what their needs really are rather than simply chipping them.”
The story quotes Hungerhill head teacher Graham Wakeling as saying, “The system is not intrusive to the pupil in the slightest. The benefits are that it provides immediate registration of the pupil as they enter the classroom. This supports staff as they are getting to know pupils.”
Also See:
good idea – Japan school gets spy chips, July 14, 2004
track students – RFID spy chips track CA students, February 8, 2005
Doncaster Free Press – School puts a chip on pupils, October 29, 2007
http://digg.com/offbeat_news/Spy_chips_in_UK_school_uniforms
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October 29th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
school just got turned into a prison over there lol. would be serious human rights issues here monitoring that way…
October 29th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
perhaps the chip should be in a yellow star?
So as well as having there finger prints on record they now have radio transmitters on them. what purpose do these spy chips serve? sounds like more government money wasted.
perhaps they should be fitted with a tazer as well so any school kid who is late for class can be electrocuted.
October 29th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Does this mean that the guards will shoot anyone breaking out, I mean leaving school early?. Why not just chip children the way we do with pets while we’re at it?
“Parents, do you wonder where your children are?, just go online and find out via GPS!”. This could be the next ad for another asinine program as this one.
October 30th, 2007 at 12:20 am
Dude, those evil student terrorists should be made to have a certain number tattooed onto their left wrist. This way they cannot commit any crimes. For further measure, they should all be forcibly converted to Judaism, rounded up and shot. That will stop them from being Terraists.
America, Fuck Yeah!!!
October 30th, 2007 at 5:48 am
This seems ridiculous. Well meaning students will be monitored and those whom are not so well meaning can easily find ways to disable (temporarily or permanently) the device. I can think of several ways right now. To me, it seems to be DRM for children.
October 31st, 2007 at 6:22 pm
The senario is as follows: Every student at the school is chipped. They are all monitored and flagged according to personality. When the computers detect two students who had an argument before, alone in the locker room, alarms go off. Security rushes to the scene… only to find the two talking to eachother.
Now what happens if the chips made it so the students would never get into that situation. Who would decide where it would disallow human experience versus where it would prevent a future problem? Technology was developed as a tool, but we need to decide whose tool it is.