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RFID Not Just for Kids 335

Posted by samzenpus from the big-brother-carney dept.
dritan writes "News.com is reporting that a theme park in Florida is tagging all members of your group when you enter. The park has kiosks throughout the park that let you find the other members of your group in "real time." The park's web site makes it seem that you will only be able to find members of your group, instead of seeing everyone in the park. Slashdot has previously reported about tagging kids with RFID in order to keep track of them."
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RFID Not Just for Kids More

RFID Not Just for Kids

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  • sigh... (Score:4, Funny)

    by EmperorKagato ( 689705 ) * <sakamura@gmail.com> on Thursday September 16, 2004 @03:47AM (#10263819) Homepage Journal
    Great, there goes my plan to leave my crazy no-good kids behind.

    • Re:sigh... (Score:3, Funny)

      by cei ( 107343 )
      All part of Bush's "leave no child behind" program...
    • The mere thought of me knowing exactly where she was would send my 8 year old into apoplexy. She probably would stick this on the first ugly person she found, preferably some one bound for far, far away...

      • Re:sigh... (Score:4, Insightful)

        by CountBrass ( 590228 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @05:30AM (#10264108)
        You allow your 8 year old to wander off by herself? FFS what kind of a parent are you?
        • The poster was implying that his/her 8 year old was the one who would hate the idea, and never said that he/she allows the child to wander off.

          The English language needs gender neutral singular and possesive pronouns to refer to someone in the third person. :/

        • Re:sigh... (Score:4, Informative)

          by maxpublic ( 450413 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @09:12AM (#10265021) Homepage
          Funny, when I was a kid parents thought nothing about letting their 8-year-old kids wander off to play in the woods or go down to the swimming hole themselves. Now people scream about how 'irresponsible' that is and wonder what sort of parent would allow such a thing.

          Max

          • Re:sigh... (Score:4, Informative)

            by Dashing Leech ( 688077 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @12:36PM (#10267522)
            Funny, when I was a kid parents thought nothing about letting their 8-year-old kids wander off to play in the woods or go down to the swimming hole themselves.

            Absolutely. I even used to walk 30 minutes to and from school alone every day when I was 8. No wonder kids get no exercise these days, they're not allowed more than 6 feet from their parents. We used to call that overprotective, now it seems to be the norm. (I can say this now because I am a parent myself.)

        • Re:sigh... (Score:3, Interesting)

          by bhima ( 46039 )
          You don't have kids do you?

          I know everyone hasn't already pointed out how silly your comment is but I can't resist... Any parent with adventurous children learns quickly that the trick is have lose enough control that your kids don"t have the perception of being under your control or observation so the quit trying (as the spy novels say) "lose their tail". But your have to be adept and quick enough to prevent them from committing any felonies or terrorist acts. On top of that I want my kids to have some

    • Re:sigh... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Mycroft999 ( 809772 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @07:18AM (#10264370)

      "Remember to take all packages and property with you when you leave the boat. Please make sure you also take your children. Because if you don't want them, then we don't want them either... For many of the same reasons."

      "Any children left behind at the end of the day become property of Walt Disney World Incorporated. At which time we take them over to the It's A Small World pavilion , staple their feet to the floor and teach them that awful little song in forty-two different languages. I myself used to be the hula-girl"

      - Boat operator on the Jungle Safari Cruise at Disney World Magic Kingdom, Spring 1996.

  • And now, for your delectation and delight... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by gowen ( 141411 ) <gwowen@gmail.com> on Thursday September 16, 2004 @03:47AM (#10263821) Homepage Journal
    ... slashdotters will spot the magic phrase "RFID", and remember that this is something the hivemind has told them they're against. They will proceed to explain why a private entity using RFID tags -- entirely on its own property -- to track and locate lost children is an appalling infringement of their civil liberties.

    This should be good.

    • Re:And now, for your delectation and delight... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Scarblac ( 122480 ) <slashdot@gerlich.nl> on Thursday September 16, 2004 @04:07AM (#10263893) Homepage

      I agree, some people seem to overhype RFID privacy problems a bit.

      There should be no problem with this, simply microwaving the children for a short period should be sufficient to disable the tag.

    • Re:And now, for your delectation and delight... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by DrXym ( 126579 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @04:24AM (#10263942)
      Lost children is a convenient explanation. I'm sure the park can't actually use the technology to see which bits of the park are most popular, where the best place to put concessions, what ride lengths need shortening to maximize throughput or anything like that. Oh no.

      It's to track kids - never mind that it tracks everyone whether they have kids in tow or not.

      But if it finds a few lost kids then great. Who can disagree with that? Unless of course it might substantially lessen a child's safety.

      Why? Well the parents will be more inclined to leave a tagged child on his / her own because he / she can be tracked. As a consequence there are more separated children within the park. Even an unsophisticated abducter could just grab a random lone child and make a beeline for the exit - once out the park the RFID is no good. A smarter abductor would remove the RFID tag first. A smarter one yet might use the RFID to find out the where the parents were in order to avoid them before discarding it.

      In other words, it's hard to see how an RFID helps that much at all. It will help in your everyday lost child situation, but it instills a false sense of security at the same time.

      Perhaps it is better that kids are chaperoned by their parents rather than tracked by chips after all.

      • Lost children is a convenient explanation. I'm sure the park can't actually use the technology to see which bits of the park are most popular, where the best place to put concessions, what ride lengths need shortening to maximize throughput or anything like that. Oh no.

        Yes, but all of those sound like a good thing to me as well. Do you actually disagree with those?

        • Quite, I'm all in favour of a theme park maximising throughput and by consequence reducing waiting time.
        • Yes I do - I strongly dislike the conveyor belt like layouts in zoos & parks which is what they frequently are these days. Entrance - attraction - concession - attraction - food court - attraction - concession - attraction - gift shop - exit. But that's irrelevant.

          The point here is that 'saving kids' is a convenient excuse for something which is more likely being introduced for commercial reasons. It isn't even a good excuse (and quite possibly dangerous) for reasons I pointed out.

          And for that every

          • It's like a real life version of Roller Coaster Tycoon - except you can't pick people up with tongs and drown them in a lake.

            yet...

            remember, the future is but an quickly granted patent away.
          • Well, if your idea of "having a good time" means standing in a 200 meters long line, go right ahead. However, if I go to a them-park/amusement-park I go there to enjoy the rides and other fun things they offer, not to stand in a line. If they can figure out ways to reduce the time I waste by standing in a line, so much the better!

            Besides, they are already studying ways to improve their facilities. And that includes studying which rides are popular and which are not. Do you complain about that as well? Or i
            • So you're agreeing with me that everyone must wear RFID tags to find 'lost children' is bullshit? I ask merely because that was what the story was about, yet you're conceding that the park might have ulterior and more likely reasons for expecting everyone to wear them.

      • Re:And now, for your delectation and delight... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Coryoth ( 254751 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @05:56AM (#10264159) Homepage Journal
        I use to work in data mining software for casinos. The only thing they'd love more than RFID tagging everyone that walks in the door is being able to get personal data (age, sex, address, income...) logged against each tag. If casinos can find an ecuse to do this, believe they will. They already track people in every possible way they can, and have a myriad of tools to slice and dice that data to squeeze every last penny out.

        Which means it is no surprise at all to me that the theme park is largely using this for data collection purposes to optimise layouts and rides. As you say "finding lost children" is just the convenient limp excuse to get the system in place. After a while people will just take it for granted.

        At the same time - there's really nothing at all wrong with this. In a sense they're just trying to provide the best service possible, and it's their property, so really they can do what they like. You dont want to be RFIDd and tracked? Don't go to that theme park. Nobody is forcing you to go there.

        Jedidiah.

      • Lost children is a convenient explanation. I'm sure the park can't actually use the technology to see which bits of the park are most popular, where the best place to put concessions, what ride lengths need shortening to maximize throughput or anything like that. Oh no.

        We wouldn't want them to be able to make the place better now would we!
      • Is this so bad?

        Yeah, I don't WANT those lines shortened to maximise throughput. No, please don't put concession stands where they are convenient to get to, I'd much rather they and the bathrooms be as inaccesible as possible. OMFG, they are gathing data on me!!! AAAGHG it's the ultimate evil - a marketer with data on ME!!! The sky is falling!

        And please, your abductor scenario is so stupid it's practically a strawman.

        Adult A enters park, children BCD enter park.
        Tag A is associated with B, C, and D.
        Eve
    • ... slashdotters will spot the magic phrase "RFID", and remember that this is something the hivemind has told them they're against

      Is Apple involved in anyway? If so RFID is then OK : )


      -Colin [colingregorypalmer.net]
    • I like to think i am an authority on this, having played Themepark for years on end..

      While they might say it is to locate lost children (or their parents), i suspect a convenient side issue will be that they will get a very clear picture of what people spend time and money on in their park.

      And whether they think there is too much ice in their soda.
    • This is just a false "peace of mind." If the child is safe then the tag is accurate. A child who gets abducted will most likely have the tag ripped from him/her.


      If you care about your children do not expect technology to keep them safe. Not yet anyway. We need to change our mindset. There are some situations where there is no room for error.

    • This is actually a brilliant move by the RFID providers. This "how can you object?" application will be the first significant exposure many people will have to RFID. Later, when they hear about objectionable applications, they will already be biased by the good that RFID can do.

  • Marketing Research Tool? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    To me, this sounds more like a boon in marketing research than a breach in privacy. After all, theme parks have guards & cameras everywhere these days.

  • and.. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Turn-X Alphonse ( 789240 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @03:50AM (#10263827) Journal
    link you to any vandalism or trouble making.

    They can pin point your location so lets say a little boy and a "older man" magicly end up in the same toilet cubicle..... well then :)

    Could be very useful for this kinda thing
    • Tag this, you M-Fer!

      Oh wait! No don't! Get away! Get aw--OUUUCH!

      . . . Hey Mom! Look what I got pierced!

    • i doubt they got detectors in every damn toilet cubicle.

      as for vandalism linking.. cameras are more useful.

      and as for following someone.. eyes are much more useful.

  • Theme parks freak me out.. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by k98sven ( 324383 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @03:50AM (#10263828) Journal
    Am I the only one who is gets a bit freaked out by theme parks?

    Sure, there is this nice image of happiness and friendliness.. but it's also obviously fake and false. (Even as a 7-year old at disneyland, I felt it)

    At the same time, there are guards and surveillance cameras everywhere, not to mention the rigorous safety measures.

    It's like being inside a Soviet propaganda movie or something.

    And that was before they started tagging people. I can't say I'm surprized.

  • But is it open to abuse? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Atrax ( 249401 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @03:50AM (#10263829) Homepage Journal
    For a theme park, I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. One of my least favorite things about theme parks is the potential to lose the rest of your party - resulting in much tedious wandering around. sure, you can call or SMS, but this seems like a genuinely good feature.

    Can the park individually track where you are? probably, but it's their right to do so - you've voluntarily entered their private property after all, and paid for the privilege. Can they track your preferences within the park? probably.

    will they store any personal identifiers? there's the rub. if their database links your RFID tag to the visa card number you paid with, THEN we're talking problems, and of course the article doesn't make it clear if this can happen or not...

  • get it right (Score:4, Insightful)

    by simonharvey ( 605068 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @03:50AM (#10263830) Homepage
    this is about tagging kids in theme parks so their friends can see if they are there, it is nothing to do with peoples rights being violated online.

    move on, nothing to see here

  • First time I saw RFID and didn't flip out. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Not bad of an idea. Maybe they'll have some pad you swipe your tag near and it'll show your party on the screen. Can you use it to buy stuff too? How about stealing someone else's tag and getting crap w/ it?

    Nope... I didn't read the article.
  • It's going to be a huge problem when these people wander near the sharks with frickin' RFID-tracking laser beams attached to their heads.

  • Seems OK (Score:5, Insightful)

    by neilmoore67 ( 682829 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @03:52AM (#10263840)

    OK, I not a die-hard libertarian, but this seems like a good idea. This is not the same as tracking someone's movements all the time, as a theme park is ostensibly not the real world. It should stop kids from being getting lost; and it would save school and youth organisation groups from having to hammer around in those big chain gangs with flags, etc.

    • Before you post: Hands up who has kids! (Score:5, Interesting)

      by fantomas ( 94850 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @04:19AM (#10263932)
      I'd like to see posters in this discussion indicate if they have kids or not. I'm going to guess that those who post "not over my dead body/evil CIA tracking device/civil liberties being eroded by govt." are the single adults who've never lost a small child they are responsible for in a large, crowded public place.
      • This is exactly what I was thinking when I read the article. If I have to wear some tag to help protect thousands of kids from getting lost or being kidnapped then by all means. This is about child safety, not tracking people to help the gestapo.

        My only concern is if a child is abducted, the abductor can just remove the wristband and throw the police off for a while and buy some time.
        • This is exactly what I was thinking when I read the article. If I have to wear some tag to help protect thousands of kids from getting lost or being kidnapped then by all means. This is about child safety, not tracking people to help the gestapo.

          Yeah! Who cares about freedom, saving the life of even just one child trumps all of that stupid stuff. Who needs freedom anyway when our children are being slaughtered in theme parks all across this great country, home of the free, land of the brave?

          My only

      • I'd like to see posters in this discussion indicate if they have kids or not. I'm going to guess that those who post "not over my dead body/evil CIA tracking device/civil liberties being eroded by govt." are the single adults who've never lost a small child they are responsible for in a large, crowded public place.

        Damn straight. If I ever take my eyes off my kids in public, it's by accident. I don't see why a tag that assists me in doing the exact same thing is evil.

      • I have a kid, and no way would I let them tag her. Just because some people don't watch or stay with their kids is no reason to track everyone. Incrementally they have wedged those tags into all kinds of places, and they're not going to stop with something that's all friendly-sounding like "finding lost kids."

    • Re:Seems OK (Score:3, Interesting)

      by SamNmaX ( 613567 )
      OK, I not a die-hard libertarian, but this seems like a good idea. This is not the same as tracking someone's movements all the time, as a theme park is ostensibly not the real world. It should stop kids from being getting lost; and it would save school and youth organisation groups from having to hammer around in those big chain gangs with flags, etc.

      I see nothing wrong with this use of RFID tags, as the users of it *want* it to be used for tracking. There's no reason this wouldn't be a 'good' thing if

      • The problem with RFID tags is that if a large number of the goods we buy have them, then it's easy for someone to put RFID readers out there so that when you pass them, they know what you are currently holding, which will likely lead to targetted advertising as you walk down the streets. I.e., if you are the type of person to buy expensive clothing, don't be suprised if you tend to get extra attention while shopping from the sales people.

        I hope the RFID tags survive long enough to make it to the thrif

      • Re:Seems OK (Score:4, Insightful)

        by dave1791 ( 315728 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @06:31AM (#10264224)
        As most RFID tags in use are the el-cheapo "just respond with a serial number" type, I would be hard pressed to find a way that it would be terribly useful to a third party. At the moment, there is not even a standard ID system for RFID tags, but lets assume that there is for a moment; e.g. one similar to EAN. So you walk into a store and the scanner at the door reads SN#s 123456789, 987654321, blah, blah. Great! The store's CRM system is going to love this.

        Now how do they correlate that with product information? Or, where do they get the "master data" (name, maker, stats, etc - catalog info) for that product? If it is something in their database already (e.g. a product that they sell), then they might be able to do a match against it. Otherwise, you have some anonymous product in your possession. Oh yeah, and do this all in realtime.

        Now assuming they managed to score all that info from someplace. What will they do with it? Most stories about what CRM can do, such as men buying beer between 5 and 6 PM tend to correlate with men buying diapers in the same time frame; hence the store put diapers and beer together and profits went up, are just that; stories. In fact, they don't put the wealth of information they already get from customer cards to very sophisticated use.

        Now if I could put a custom RFID tag on my keys and shoes, I could figure out where I put my keys and wallet what my kids did with my left shoe.

    • Re:Seems OK (Score:3, Interesting)

      by neilmoore67 ( 682829 )

      I suppose another thing that might be advantageous for all (not just parents) is that the park could take quite an abstract view of people's whereabouts in the park; just dots from a bird's eye view. That way they could watch crowd problems happening and take action to stop any dangerous crowd phenomena, or try to ease large queues by suggesting that people try one of the less busy attractions.

    • I'm not against it either, I'll just have to make arrangements to go to a different park when I start having secret affairs with celebrities.

    • Re:Seems OK (Score:4, Insightful)

      by TiggsPanther ( 611974 ) <tiggs@m-vCURIEoid.co.uk minus physicist> on Thursday September 16, 2004 @06:37AM (#10264247) Journal

      This is one of those thigns I'm in two minds about. On the one hand being a private person and somewhat paranoid about quite how much information people can get/keep I have to admit being rather worried about something like this being abused.

      However I've been a youth leader on a trip to a theme park this summer, trying to round up the final stragglers about half an hour after the deadline to get back to the coach.
      And when we finally found them? They were queueing up for food - which in turn they'd have to finish before being allowed back on the coach. (Terms of hiring)
      There was also the point on the same trip where all of the leaders were on the lookout for the trip organiser. Half an hour of searching and I bumped into him by accident by the front gates.

      So yeah. On the one hand I don't like the idea of people being able to track me, and i am concerned about the security of such a system making sure that only party members could find people - not stalkers and the like.
      But on the other hand I've recently been in a position of being unable to track down party members at such a place. And if you've booked a coach for a certain time you have to be able to round everybody up by a set time.

      Tiggs

  • Dude! (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Dude! Where's my Ki...

    Woah. Gnarly.

    Thanks Mouseman.

  • Goddamnit! (Score:5, Funny)

    by raehl ( 609729 ) * <raehl311@@@yahoo...com> on Thursday September 16, 2004 @03:54AM (#10263849) Homepage
    How am I supposed to have any fun if I can't accidentally get separated from the wife?
    • "How am I supposed to have any fun if I can't accidentally get separated from the wife?"

      Just place your RFID tag in your mother-in-law's handbag.

      That should do the trick.

  • UN Black Helicopters (Score:3, Funny)

    by mrshowtime ( 562809 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @03:55AM (#10263853)
    Wow! Now you can find your other family members via a tracking system. Next thing you know the government will be using it to "track" you in airports, grocery stores, masterbating in the bathroom, etc. In Mexico they are implanting RFID tags into goverment officical to track them in case of kidnapping. "Experts" say that there is nothing to fear. Yeah, right. My paranoid buddy said a few years ago that the dreaded U.N. black helicopters could fly over your house and scan it to see how much money you had in it. Now that's possible; The EU is putting RFID tags in it's money. Also, within 5 years, EVERYTHING you can buy will have the damn tags on it.

    I hate to sound like an apocalypse nut, but within 15 years it will be capable of one individual (i.e. antichrist) to control/track just about everyone on the planet, including money and food.
    • I'm picking up hints of grave seriousness and tongue-in-cheek sarcasm from your post. I really have no idea if you mean what you said or not. But just in case you are serious, calm down, smoke some pot, and remember that the UN hardly has the power to police itself within its own facilities.

  • Is it voluntary? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by usefool ( 798755 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @03:55AM (#10263856) Homepage
    Slashdot says the park is tagging everybody, but the article says it's issuing tags to everyone. So is the park really 'tagging' everyone as they enter? Like what happens to cows?

    Anyway, unless it's mandatory, it should be okay. It's pretty close to being watched by CC cameras when you wonder around a department store.

    • Re:Is it voluntary? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Atrax ( 249401 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @04:01AM (#10263875) Homepage Journal
      yeah, but (as I've noted in an earlier reply) what if the tag ID is linked to the visa account you paid with.

      Let's say you go into the park, pay by credit card, wander round a bit and the system tracks you and your activities. Now if the company in question (lets say Disney) can link the ID to your CC number, and if they retain the data, then they'll be able to tightly market to you later based on what you did at the park.

      Hung around a lot in the little kids park? you likely have small children, so we can market kids stuff to you. Sit in the bar all day while the rest of the party wandered round in bliss? well, there's stuff we can market there too.... that's my only worry.

  • RFID responsible use (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Xerxes2695 ( 706503 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @03:56AM (#10263860)
    RFID is IMO not inherently "evil". It is a tool, like a screwdriver. Now, a screwdriver can be used to turn screws, or it can be plunged into someone's head. RFID is fine with me, as long as:

    1. I know it's being used
    2. I'm not required to use it
    3. I can turn it off

  • News.com is reporting that a theme park in Florida is tagging all members of your group when you enter.
    And they wonder why the hurricane trifecta (or perhaps a fourth round, too) is hitting the Sunshine State... ;)

  • This sounds like an exciting new tool! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Ghostgate ( 800445 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @04:03AM (#10263881)

    • ... for stalkers.
  • Admission: $50
    Lunch: $20
    Knowing your party landed in Alabama: priceless.

  • in the workplace (Score:4, Insightful)

    by fishmonkey ( 301785 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @04:12AM (#10263912) Journal
    I wonder when workplaces will start using rfid in security badges to monitor start and finish times, lunch breaks, toilet breaks etc..
  • If they're any relation to wanadoo.[fr|nl], they probably have the least secure theme park in the world, with the rowdiest guests on the planet. They probably need RFID to keep track of what their customers are doing.

    Just sayin'.. :)

  • Imagine the fun you could have .... (Score:5, Funny)

    by dustpuppy ( 5260 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @04:27AM (#10263955)
    Get everyone to take off their tag and attach it to the roller coaster cars ... then sit back and watch as park officials panic when they realise that there are 578 people riding around and around.

    Or ... as you take a journey through a ride, take off you tag and through it as far as you can into the diaroma ... and watch as park officials try and hunt down the lost kid

    Or ... flush a tag down the toilet and then say your kid is lost ... and watch then chase the 'kid' as it 'travels' around the park

  • Ski passes (Score:4, Insightful)

    by tree_frog ( 113005 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @04:33AM (#10263967)
    Most of these have RFI tags in them. Seems like a good idea to me, for fairly ovious reasons.

    Regards,

    treefrog

  • And remember folks... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by WegianWarrior ( 649800 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @04:35AM (#10263971) Journal

    ..if you don't like the idea of being tagged and tracked - well, don't go to that park that tag and track you. Problem solved.


    Off course, if the US goverment (or any other evil organisation/entity of your choice) started doing this, allowing you to be "found in real time", you might have a reason to scream up about "civil liberties" and whatnot.. but as long as it's private company doing it on their own property you have nothing to say in the matter - except to vote with your dollars and feet. Besides, I like the idea to find the kids when it's time to leave - spendt way to much time tracking down a kid that didn't want to be found because he didn't want to leave one time.

  • It's a wrist band! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by PotatoHead ( 12771 ) * <doug.opengeek@org> on Thursday September 16, 2004 @04:38AM (#10263981) Homepage Journal
    No big deal. Seems to me, one can just remove it, unless it is required for the attractions. (Still can break the tags, I guess.)

    Theme parks are all about control anyway. The better ones have good control which results in a good experience. (That is what you pay for.) The poor ones have not thought everything out resulting in problems. (Which is what you don't pay for.)

    It's a good feature. Pay cash if you don't want your prefs tracked to your identity.

  • What are they using? GPS? Antenna Triangulation?

    Probably the last one.

    I took a look at their website, but couldn't find any hints ...

  • Hide and seek (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 16, 2004 @05:11AM (#10264066)
    This could lead to a cool modern day version of hide and seek. One person is the fugitive, gets hmmm 10 minutes to 'escape' then the others have to use the rfid to track the fugitive down.
    Given that both the hunter and the hunted can see each others locations - but only when visiting the booths - then some interesting strategies could come out.
    What would be really cool would be if you could tell the park you're doing this and they limit access to the location data to something like 1 minute access every 5 minutes to prevent 'booth squatting'!
    Now I'd visit that park.

  • looking for kids... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by zxflash ( 773348 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @05:30AM (#10264107) Homepage
    as long as the technology can't be used by pervs to find kids that are alone... the technology is more of a threat than an aide for groups if it isn't implemented properly...

    finding loopholes in this type of system isn't something that you can afford to do after it's been widely put into use.

  • RFID on kids? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by MoOsEb0y ( 2177 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @05:51AM (#10264150)
    Well, at least they aren't implanting it.

  • I for one... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Writer ( 746272 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @06:29AM (#10264220)
    ... welcome our new Theme Park Overlords.

  • Not as bad..... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by BobSutan ( 467781 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @07:11AM (#10264341)
    With the right controls, I'd welcome this. Whenever my family and friends head to Cedar Point, we always take 2-way radios to keep in touch (emergencies, when its time to eat, etc). They really help out though when you can't find someone at 4 PM where we're all supposed to be meeting for dinner. Well, with these little kiosks, we can leave the radios at home and have one less thing to worry about losing on a ride. Just pop onto a kiosk and see where they're at. Most likly they're STILL in line for (insert newest ride here) and that they're not going anywhere any time soon.

  • Probably not that big a deal (Score:4, Interesting)

    by emorphien ( 770500 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @07:11AM (#10264343)
    Since the tags they'll use probably wont contain all the information on you they can possibly gather, this probably isn't that big a deal. They're probably just matched to a group set up in the park database when you enter so you can find each other. Sure they can track you too and provide you with ads and garbage for when they get a new rollercoaster if thats where you spend all your time, but one would like to think that's not the use.

    People spend too much time being paranoid of what RFID can be used for in all the wrong ways. If they don't go overboard this isn't a bad idea, because we all hear about the person who had their kid wander off. Imagine if you could just go to a park booth and say hi I'm so and so and my kid just wandered off, they could tell you where the kid was instantly.

  • Splash Country does this already (Score:5, Informative)

    by Scutter ( 18425 ) on Thursday September 16, 2004 @07:55AM (#10264501) Journal
    Dollywood's Splash Country in Tennessee does this. For a couple of bucks, you can tag your kid with a radio transponder and one or more of the parents. The tags are paired at rental time. At any kiosk throughout the park, you can hold your transponder up to the scanner and it will show you the location of all other matching transponders on a little video map, as well as the last time it was detected.

    I found it *extremely* useful since I could let my daughter ride the waterslides without worrying about how to find her when it was time for lunch or time to go home. Likewise, she could find me quickly and easily if she needed to. I certainly didn't feel that my privacy was being invaded and I wasn't able to track any other users in the park.

    Is there potential for abuse? Of course there is, but it's like any other tool. It can be used for good or evil. In this case, I feel there's no evil intent and it helps prevent lost kids.

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