NOTE:
Gearblog has morphed into Gibbsblog. All new postings, same great Gibbs. Come on over!
More on RFID tags in schools
By Gearhead, NetworkWorld.com, 04/06/05
We got a nice note from Chris Miller, perpetrator of the blog "IdoNotes (and sleep)" pointing to his comments on the topic of RFID tags in schools.
Chris generally agrees with the Backspin column on that topic and notes that "I agree with Mark Gibbs from NW Fusion, as long as the intent is well defined and spelled out, adding this feature to the id tags that most schools are requiring staff and students to wear is the next step. It is no more intrusive then you checking in randomly during the school day. Remember, for the most part our kids go to Public Schools, defined as someone is already watching and logging everything they do."
Back to Gearblog
Comments
What is wrong with people? You mention RFID and instantly everyone screams Privacy and Rights.
I truly believe that "Children's Rights" are a big problem in this country.
When I grew up, the thought of taking a gun to school was as foreign to me as what life on Alpha Centauri would be like.
I did not misbehave because if I did, you can guarantee my mother would find out and I would get a beating that I would remember. It was not child abuse, it was discipline. There is a difference. Now, yell at a kid in public for misbehaving, and people are ready to lynch you! Strike a kid, even if it is warranted, and you risk losing that child and going to jail! Instead we resort to time out (what a joke) or grounding (long term time out) or guilt trips (That is really good for the kids...... Yeah ok!)
Privacy for children in my opinion should have went out the door the first time a kid took a gun to school. The only privacy they should have is the same privacy I had growing up, and that was during personal hygiene times. Even then it was a fake privacy because there was no lock on the bathroom door.
Everyone also thinks that just because they are good parents, everyone else can and should be good parents, as if wishing it will make it so.
Sorry folks, "Ain't gonna happen!"
Now that we have determined that fact, we as a society have to protect our kids from those kids that were not raised like our kids.
RFID is a good way to do it.
I am an advocate for implanted RFID that can be spotted from satellite, kind of like the lo-jack system in my car, only better.
This way, if someone ever snatches my kid, or he becomes lost or injured because he fell into an abandoned well, whatever the case, I can find him. And if he is stupid enough to commit a crime, by all means, let the police use the system to find him.
Most people are appalled by that concept though, so let's compromise and be real about things.
First having kids with ID cards that have RFID tags on them does NOT invade their privacy, even under today's standards.
There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in a public place. Basic law, basic common sense.
Now, having dispensed with that misconception, the "Tracking of children" can not be a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination.
If the child is not doing anything wrong, he has nothing to fear from being tracked.
If he is doing something wrong, then I as a parent would want to know. And since everyone seems to be advocating that better parenting is needed, you would think they would want to know as well.... or is this the "have your cake and eat it too" syndrome....
So I have to ask, "Where is the harm here?"
Next, information on the tags being read by strangers etc... more Hogwash!
Simply put the Student ID number on the chip. Have that link up to a database with the information. Then Mike Molester can read all the tags he wants (as if that is a smart way for him to get easily obtained info. - "Gee Sarge, Mike Molester has a Tag reader, and look it has victim Johnny's information still on it!")
One reader said something like "Teaching the kid's it is ok to have every moment of their school day tracked." I do not what school you went to, but I was tracked almost every moment of my school day.
Role taken every period, If you left before period ended, you either had a hall pass with where you were going and the time, or you were on your way to Expulsion for leaving the Class without the teachers permission. You did not wander the halls, and you definitely did not leave the building. They had monitors for that. Miss a role call, especially after making one, and the principal was notified and you were located. Miss the first role call of the day and a call went home to the parents to find out where you were. No answer at home, work was called. No answer at work, then if you left emergency contact info, they were called until they got hold of someone that knew your whereabouts. On the off chance no one was able to be contacted, the police (truancy) was notified.
I guarantee you if my mother walked into school and asked where I was, the Principal knew exactly where to find me. Three times she did it, and it took less than 2 minutes for me to get to the office.
Of course, back then, schools and teachers were much more responsible in my opinion. They also had more funding per student and less problems to deal with. Oh, and they could spank us kids as well...
All this rhetoric about RFID is just that. Scare tactics by people that have been indoctrinated to think that we need to fight for freedoms we never had and can never have in a society of laws. The Government has always has the means of tracking people, and they did not abuse it. Even with the limitations added after 9/11 they still do not abuse several of the systems already in place that track you. But, even if they wanted to abuse this system how could they? Let's see, the kid walks into 7-11 with his card and they know it.... The store clerk already knows the kid is there, and if he is responsible he calls the police anyway because the kid should be in school...
So that is not it, let's see...
Is Johnny making out with Susie behind the school building, we can tell by the satellite imagery that read the RFID.... Ok. yeah, if they wanted to know that....
I suppose you can claim that police can implicate or clear a person by the RFID record. But that is a load o' crap too because as it is school attendance records can verify his presence or absence, and is 100 times more reliable because you can not carry a body into the room to fool the teacher (like taking a card past the reader to fool the system)
As for taking the card to fake attendance, Last I heard teachers can multiple and add and subtract... "Hmmm, 6 rows with 6 desks, 4 are empty, that is 32 kids... The reader says 34. I guess we have two invisible students today!"
It is not a system that can really be exploited. That dog don't hunt!
It all comes back to the simple fact of kids and Privacy. I can not think of any legitimate reason my children need privacy, except for hygiene purposes. Everything else should be done in public, or should not be done.
On final note - In a school fire, the concept of using infrared-tracking is all well and good when you know which room the missing child is in. And even if a child is missing. RFID complements that by not only showing that a child may be missing, but that his card is in such and such a place.
Could it be he dropped his card or left it there, yes. Does that increase the risk to the firefighters? NO. They would attempt to scour the building anyway if they think anyone is in it! In this manner, they can determine before the firefighters ever arrive if everyone is out.
Scenario:
Fire alarm goes off. Evacuation starts. The principal activates the RFID readers at the rendezvous point. Three kids are not accounted for by the scanners. The principal knows that they were supposed to be in science class with Mr. Mackey.
He goes to Mr. Mackey and asks about the three kids. Mr. Mackey responds that they never arrived at his class from last period.
The principal then checks the internal scanners and finds all three cards are in the locker room.
He goes to the Gym teacher Mr. Rogers. Mr. Rogers checks and finds that two of the kids are there but did not get to change back into there normal clothes and hence do not have their cards, the third however is missing.
The firefighters arrive. The Principal approaches the chief and says he has one student unaccounted for and that his last location was the boys' locker room. Instead of the firefighters starting at the entrance and working their way back, they send in a team with the infrared scanner right to the locker room, where they find that the boy slipped and fell in the shower, and is unconscious. They then bring him to safety...
Posted by: Ty Simone on April 21, 2005 02:20 PM
