Japanese Schoolchildren to be Tagged with RFID

oostevo writes "CNET has reported that Japanese schoolchildren in the city of Osaka will be tagged with RFID tags. Apparently this is in addition to the trial program in Tabe that The Register reported earlier, where parents can track their children on their way to school."

I want implants

[Anonymous Coward]

RFID in my skull.

Total Recall?

With other implants parents or governments could monitor stress levels and investigate high readings for possible crimes.

Oh I feel so warm and cuddly, let me have them. My every move recorded, it will make cattle envious.

BattleRoyale

[xixax]

So this must be the promised sequel to Battle Royale. Participating children will be monitored, and must engage each other in mortal combat if they encounter each other. If they do not battle, the RFID collars will explode. The project will continue until only one child survives....

Battle Royale [battleroyalefilm.com]

Xix.

Odd? Future?

[Kell_pt]

Let's keep in mind that a technology is not intrinsicly good or evil. The use of RFID tags on kids might or might not be acceptable, but it ends up as a very good way to keep track of little kids. Imho it's acceptable. Doesn't mean that scaling it to other circumstances would. Howeber, how long before they realize kids can drop the tags and then start implanting them beneath skin? Obviously the more imaginative among us can relate to sci-fi scenarios where you receive your tag when you're born, but they're not quite there yet. Wait and see? As for the slashdotter above that posted that odd things happen in Japan... actually the really odd things happen in the US. What's the last time you heard of someone being sued in Japan for a no-brainer? What other country defends abstinence as the primary means to counter Aids? I mean... c'mon. :)

Re:Let's not over state...

[timecop]

Thanks for mentioning the bloody obvious truth, sir.

Are you on your spree to reach the karma kap by posting useless shit that everyone else can read by simply READING TEH ARTICLE?

Yours truly,
GNAA

Re:progress, but not as we know it

[madmarcel]

I think you'd find that the most likely second target for a scheme like this would be (convicted) criminals, not employees.

(IIRC Most crimes are committed by repeat offenders)

First our pets and cattle, then our children, then criminals, then the rest of us.

A while ago, after reading a newspaper article about some hideous unsolved crime, I mentioned to a friend that we should start putting radiotags on criminals. Man, he hit the roof! Wow. He used a variety of terms to describe this idea, the one that I remember most was 'Nazi'.

Radio tagging people has its merits and can certainly make the world a 'Better Place'(tm), but it is simply too prone to abuse/misuse.

Who would you trust to manage and control the monitoring system? Your government? The United Nations? Your local police department? Your favourite church/religion/cult/sect?

Re:People may complain but..

[DAldredge]

With a normal receiver it's short range, but a more sensitive receiver can detect them from much farther away. Also, someone could tap into the system that is used to monitor the kids.

Think for about 23.2425 seconds about how this could be abused.

Re:Makes sense for Japanese parents

[Anonymous Coward]

http://alllooksame.com

False sense of security.

[R2.0]

One of the (many) unintended consequences of this will be that parents and authorities will have a higher perceived confidence level but a lower real confidence level.

Current situation: Parent sends child to school. Did they get there? Probably, based on past behavior and other factors, but not necessarily definitely. Therefore, the parents continue to assert controls and recieve feedback (aka nagging and snooping) over time to increase the liklihood of the child going to school and behaving safely.

Proposed situation: Parent sends child to school. Did they get there? Definitely, based on the feedback from the sensors at the school. Parents don't need to check and reinforce behavior (spy and nag), because they can be sure that their little darling is safe at school. Except that only the tag is at school, in their little darling's friend's bag. Little darling is skipping school and is currenly at a bukkake shoot earning some extra coin.

I'll stick with the nagging and snooping.

Saw this one years ago on the Simpsons!

[Anonymous Coward]

Much to Skinner's dismay, only Martin volunteered to get the tracking device implanted into his skull.

Wait, he's such a good student....just like all Japanese kids! We may be on to something here.

Re:progress

[AstroDrabb]

As a Daddy of two, I think always being able to find my children is great. However, exactly how do you put these RFID tags on to our kids? A bracelet? An anklet? Those can easily be taken off buy the kids as well as by the kidnapper. Should we inject our kids with RFID tags? I dont' know. That seems a little far for me, though the though of loosing my little girl does make it seem like an "OK" idea. It is a tough choice for a parent.

RFID Service Pack 2.0

[buckhead_buddy]

The current goal is one reduction of school bueracracy and truency rather than stopping crime and abduction. Why not do this more simply with Bluetooth enabled key cards instead? Maybe the goal of taking this the more invasive aims like those is on the horizon, but must be introduced one step to hell at a time.

Get the RFID tags implanted to help locate children in earthquakes and major disasters. Get long lasting bio-driven versions that will survive between school sessions and vacations to protect against abductors. Widely deploy readers to track school kids who might choose to vandalize a school. Will the tags be removed at the end of one's education? No, they're harmless. Within a few generations you have a populace with high percentages of people already RFID tagged and having no problems. Require it of everyone.

If the current uses are "just" to reduce bueracracy, I'd definitely side with technologies that would not be easily expandable to a more trecherous slope.

Re:Makes sense for Japanese parents

[bananahammock]

There was this Japanese kid in my baseball team (in Australia), and one game he was a no-show. When we caught up with him later (this is before mobiles and such), it seems he went to the specific park where we were playing, however as there were another three or four games concurrently underway (we're talking a pretty big park), not only could he not locate his team mates, but that it was doubly hard as we all looked the same.

I can't remember how he replied when I asked about the different uniforms.

Re:progress, but not as we know it

[silentbozo]

Even worse, once "everyone" has it, people will start linking things to it (like they currently do with social security numbers). Imagine not being able to order food at a restaurant because you're not tagged, and hence are not "verifiable", or being able to enter a movie theatre or concert, because you could "be one of those subversives."

Of course, the criminals will have a field day - once they can wand you to verify your ID, people might just stop looking at photo IDs (which are easy enough to fake anyways), making false transmitters a great way of ripping people off (cloning car key transmitters, or cellphones, anyone?)

The key argument, of course, will be - "Well, if you have nothing to hide, then this shouldn't be a problem, right?" That one and the other argument, "Only criminals fear more government. We citizens have nothing to be afraid of..."

Re:Makes sense for Japanese parents

[Anonymous Coward]

In the US, they've tested recognition rates of ethnicities towards different ethnicites. The method was they show a Black person a picture of a white person, then ask him to pick him out from a group of pictures of ten white people - and repeat the process in different combinations. By far the lowest recognition rate was of Asians identifying White people.

Re:progress

[Dracolytch]

Of course, the question this brings up to me is: Who else can always find my children?

~D

Re:progress

[fuzzix]

It might be a cheap shot, but the parent argument was just another "Think of the children!" non-argument. OK, so it's his child, but there's no analysis there - only raw emotional respone.

Thing is, when it comes to peoples' kids I'm pretty cold. I just don't care about them and it grates my raw nerves when they affect my life (I gotta pay for HBO just to hear a comic say "Fuck" - Doug Stanhope...) I gotta stop quoting that guy :) RFID on the kids is the thin end. The first straw - well, your pets were the first straw. What's next? Repeat offenders? Known dissidents? Radical thinkers? One of these labels might apply to you some day.

There's also incredible hypocrisy in most parents. They underestimate their children - lie to them to "protect" them. Then what? The kids find out the truth (Wow. I smoked pot and I didn't end up a crackhead. Conformity is bullshit. Fitting in is for dicks - you know, the same shit we all discovered in our teens) and they say "Fuck you, Mom. Fuck you Dad. You're just full of shit." Almost all of them do. A secret RFID tag would be the icing on the deception cake - knives and guns time! Good thing my folks were a little more liberal than my friends' - I'm maladjusted AND uninhibited! :)

Thing is, I hear people say "Hey, it'd be different if it was your kid. You're not a parent, how could you know?" Well, guess what folks - I think we've got enough mewling brats fucking up the planet already so I'm not planning to cumshot my way into ruining my life just yet. I guess I'll never know the joy of opressing, lying to and generally messing up a little version of me. What a fucking tragedy. Then again, I could have a few kids, stick RFID on them and race them around the block, watching the little coloured dots make their way around the map on my computer monitor. "Come on green! I bet a 20 on you!"

My girlfriend is on the pill, but I still wear a rubber - and only because she keeps talking me out of that vasectomy for some reason.

Now, there it is - my unreasoned emotionally loaded argument... How does it match up to "Think of the children"? :)