I'm not ready for a barcode on my forehead

[pointedview]

I'm too astonished and horrified to write much about this. Assuming we have any civil liberties left in ten years, I hope some of these children sue have a really stern talk with their parents for putting them through such a thing

Comments

[goodjoan]

Dan and I were recently discussing our options for keeping in touch with the kids when they are away from us (ie at school, on the bus, etc.) We might give them a few small walkie talkies that I bought for our recent camp out since they aren't that far away as the crow flies, or possbily investing in one cheap metropcs phone that Owen could keep in his backpack but the school has a no-phone rule. I have an old beeper that might be at least a one way heads up, maybe to tell the kids to turn on the handheld radios. There is even a nifty kid lo-jack type watch that you can buy that lets you track your kid like a car, via the web or phone hat also has an emergency beacon that an older child can set off if they feel in danger, or goes off automatically if the band is cut. If they weren't $300 each I'd probably try them! All the same, I would never go so far as to microchip my kids! At least not under this administration!! I'm ok with an Id card and even a hand scan at school for tracking attendance and lunch money, etc but being able

[pointedview]

Communication is good. I'm all for communication, and hey, walkie talkies are fun. :) We used them in the LA Convention Center at E3 because the center is so concrete-laden that cell phones can't get any reception.

I'm right with you on the under skin "Ewww, creepy!" I mean, I won't even go for that birth control option that has the five year release system because it's a plastic wheel that slips under your skin and just . . . icky! *squirms* Completely outside the Orwellian aspect of it, it just makes me physically squinchy! :)

[goodjoan]

Well, the article said the kids had badges that contained the chip and I might be ok with that. So long as it could be removed at will. I *am* concerned about where my kids are when I can't see them and I'd probably be ok with my school system tracking them during school hours on the way to and from school (granted, I Love my kids school and the local school system) but I wouldn't want my kids tracked outside of that situation and not without their knowledge. I have visions of letters home stating that my child has been home sick for 3 days and that they will be tracking him to insure I take him to the dr before returning him to school. that's probably TAME compared to the reality of how badly our rights and freedoms could be trampled if the chip was permanent!

[pointedview]

One of my worries about even having the badges is who has access to the information, and who -could- have access to the information. After knowing several former cops who left their respective forces due to corruption, I just don't have much trust in our police force. I imagine you heard about that police officer who was taking people out into the woods instead of taking them to the station

[goodjoan]

That's a good point, and up there in the "How badly could this backfire and harm my family instead of help?" category! Of course, the concept that an abductor could track the child and then discard the id tag is more fire for the camp that really want to see these things implanted!

Owen will be headed to a school way out of my line of sight and too far for walkie talkies in 2 years. I hope by then that cell phone technology is cheap enough that I can just add another phone to my cell plan. I'm stubborn enough to fight that part of his ADD IEP waive the phone rule and allow him to carry it in his backpack in case he misses the bus or whatever. Also, there was a kid a year or so ago that befuddled a would be abductor by snapping a picture of the man with his phone-cam as the guy approached him. Smart kid!

As to their manners, I thank you for the kind comment. I know they are good kids and pretty level headed overall, but I think they are still a pack of wild animals when no one is looking :)

[pointedview]

I thought about that, with the implants, but didn't go there because I thought of the "eww, yuck" progression from that: someone who would abduct a child probably wouldn't hesitate to, erm, forcibly remove the implant. Additionally, if this sort of thing became widespread, God forbid, there would almost certainly be black market implant removal shops, a la back alley abortion clinics back in the day.

That's really excellent about the child snapping a photo of the man! That's a child who was thinking on his feet!

[goodjoan]

All I can think of when I hear this stuff is that horribly stupid old sci fi movie where the prisoners swallow a spikey ball thing that both tracks them around the prison and punishes them when they are disobedient!