Chips in School Uniforms Track Students

I saw this on Yahoo! today
How would feel about this: Tracking chips in kids' school clothing so that school officials can know their whereabouts during the school day?

Oh, it's happening. Ten students in a secondary school in the United Kingdom are being tracked through RFID implants in their school uniforms in a pilot program. Information Week reports that the kids attend Hungerhill School for ages 11-16 in Edenthorpe, England.

Add the RFID chips to increased video surveillance and fingerprinting of kids, and this is a heavily tracked generation—for safety's sake.

That extra peace of mind for adults comes with a heavy loss of privacy for kids. Do you agree with David Clouter, a parent and founder of the children's advocacy group Leave Them Kids Alone, who says taking all these precautions has the effect of treating kids like criminals? Or do you agree with the parents who have OKed the pilot program who do not find it egregiously intrusive?

One possible side effect: Uniform sales may pick up as kids try to procure extra non-RFID-tagged clothing. As security expert Bruce Schneier writes on his blog: "So now it's easy to cut class; just ask someone to carry your shirt around the building while you're elsewhere."

www.informationweek.com...

What next? Implant at birth?

Soon they'll find the flaws in the system: Like you quoted, "give your shirt to someone else" or even just throw it on the roof...

It'll probably just be an automated, Check in, Check out, system, as they walk through the doors....

How about cut the chip out and flush it? Oh Noes!! Where is he going?!

I thought this deserved a flag.

We're out of Guinea Pigs already