Screaming Penguin

Osaka is planning to put RFID chips into the backpacks or pockets of kids in school: Japan school kids to be tagged with RFID chips. This of course has been debated with GPS locator chips and other such technologies. It has even been debated if implants under the skin much like are available to pets should be employed. Overall I think it is a good idea. State schools are supposed to watch kids and know where they are. They should not need these devices to do that but they are simple and relatively cheap and could augment any other system. I do not think such devices should be compulsory, the parent should decide, but I think they are a good idea. As for outside of school I also think that is a good idea for parents. Kids do get lost and go missing, they can even get abducted, these devices, especially the implants, can be helpful. Now dont get me wrong, its easy to get emotional here and overstate the risk and frequency of child abduction, so that must be weighed against any risk, but in this case there basically is NO RISK. Lets face it, even implanted, the risks are what? The kid could get an infection from the procedure to do the implant? The device could create a false sense of security for kid and parent? Or of course the main objection I hear in arguments could come up, its an invasion of privacy and private companies or governments could abuse their power and spy on the kids or whomever has the devices. The first two risks are in my opinion very minor ones. The last risk is in my opinion total paraniod nonsense. First off its not a compulsory device and I am not talking about any state involvement. Secondly even if accepting the very remote possibility of abuse of power or "spying" by a private company providing the service (and disregarding that this would totally devalue the company by pissing off its customers enormously thusly making it very much NOT in the interest of the company) OR even the less remote yet still very unlikely possibility of the government pulling some Patriot act nonsense and siezing the records of the device or the real time information to "spy"; the result would be what? They would then see that the kid is at the home location, likely in the family room watching Sponge Bob, or that the kid is in the back yard, maybe even playing that communist sport of "soccer"? (Now if you take your kid to Afghanistan for some type of training, or even out in the woods with some militia in Montana, then it may be best to remove the device.) Anyway, the debate rages on and will get much louder in the future as these types of devices become more available, more affordable and even more reliable.