Young Woman Threatened with Explusion For Refusal To Wear RFID

[saltydogbk]

It's all well and good till the school wants to slip the chip under the skin of Jr's forearm.  Just let them keep chipping slowly away at freedom till there is nothing left.  If the school needs to know who is in the head at at 1000, send a human in to see.  Oh wait, the union says that isn't the teachers job.  I think we have the government up our ass far enough.  No need for them to go any farther.

[Solus]

The distinction that I'm not seeing made is that the RFID tracking is designed to take place in a CLOSED ENVIRONMENT.  Most of the discussions and comments concerning violations of privacy are appropriate in an OPEN ENVIRONMENT... our homes,  our cars, the places we shop, our everyday travels here and there.  Omnipresent tracking in a free society is wrong on many levels.  A high school has never been and should never become a FREE environment in the sense that the kids should be able to go anywhere they want and whenever they want.

And it CAN be viewed as a security issue.  In the instance of an active shooter or natural disaster, I want first responders to KNOW where my child is located within that campus.  Or if someone is monitoring the system for "outliers", I want the administrators to know that the gym teacher is alone in the shower with a single student.  I want the administrators to know if the same five kids meet in the bathroom everyday after school.  I want the administrators to know that the same kid plants himself in a secluded area everyday and experiences a steady flow of visitors that stay only a minute or two - just long enough to buy their dope.

A high school is not a free and open environment populated only by adults.  We're talking about an environment full of raging hormones, poor judgement, peer pressure, impulsiveness, and just plain stupidity.  A high school is where we are supposed to be training these kids to BECOME adults.  Until these kids become adults we need to treat them as what they are... juveniles that need to be controlled.  Those who pettifog when debating this issue by incorporating religion or first amendment rights are attempting to win by distraction.

I worry the training to become adults is more like indoctrination to become willing subjects.  We wore RFID cards in High School...so why not in College...and have one in our Driver's License...

It's for the children, after all.

And it will give our children more security.....they need to learn it is fine to trade a bit of freedom for the extra security.

We are, or used to be, repulsed by the movie dialog   "Show me your papers."   Well, hearing that won't be a worry any longer.  They don't need to ask....don't need to see them...  Your "papers" can be read remotely and automatically.

[sledgemeister]

What happened to teachers being in the room and taking attendance?  Worked when I was in school in the 60's and 70's, and it worked in the early 90's when I was in college.

To many notes passed in the next day signed "epsteins mom" 

[MikeBjerum]

To many notes passed in the next day signed "epsteins mom" 

Chips ain't going to change that!

[JLawson]

I worry the training to become adults is more like indoctrination to become willing subjects.  We wore RFID cards in High School...so why not in College...and have one in our Driver's License...

Many of us seem to be indoctrinated already.  According to the CTIA (http://www.ctia.org/advocacy/research/index.cfm/aid/10323), over 321 million of us already carry a tracking device - and we do it voluntarily.  There are one billion facebook users (http://newsroom.fb.com/Key-Facts) - many of whom divulge everything from who they slept with to who they intend to murder - and they do it voluntarily.  If you have OnStar, Progressive Snapshot, a checking account, or a credit card you have voluntarily abrogated your right to privacy within those realms.  If you use a "customer savings card" from a store such as CVS or Kroger then you have voluntarily agreed to have your purchasing patterns analyzed and an incredibly detailed personal profile generated and then shared among marketing firms.

Is it even possible to be untraceable today?  Some would argue that privacy, in the traditional sense, no longer exists.  Some would say it hasn't existed for a long time... and we were all too busy giving it away to notice.

[Sponsor]

[Solus]

Many of us seem to be indoctrinated already.  According to the CTIA (http://www.ctia.org/advocacy/research/index.cfm/aid/10323), over 321 million of us already carry a tracking device - and we do it voluntarily.  There are one billion facebook users (http://newsroom.fb.com/Key-Facts) - many of whom divulge everything from who they slept with to who they intend to murder - and they do it voluntarily.  If you have OnStar, Progressive Snapshot, a checking account, or a credit card you have voluntarily abrogated your right to privacy within those realms.  If you use a "customer savings card" from a store such as CVS or Kroger then you have voluntarily agreed to have your purchasing patterns analyzed and an incredibly detailed personal profile generated and then shared among marketing firms.

Is it even possible to be untraceable today?  Some would argue that privacy, in the traditional sense, no longer exists.  Some would say it hasn't existed for a long time... and we were all too busy giving it away to notice.

Are you saying we shouldn't mind this because everyone is doing it anyway?

[Jrlobo]

JLawson, you captured what I was trying to say better than I did! My comment re implanting was meant to be humorous, knowing how easy it is to defeat badge RFID systems. I am not advocating tracking once the kids leave school grounds, but I appreciate the skepticism of those who feel that "government" will find excuses to extend the tracking zones just as they have the school responsibility zone for firearms. It's the slippery slope that leads to bigger brother and loss of more freedoms.

[Magoo541]

The silver lining lies in humans' tendency towards laziness and that would apply to Big Brother as well.  Once these types of systems are in place they become the solution for everything and if it doesn't exist within the system then it becomes too much work for the stereotypical lazy bureaucrat.  So those that want to stay off the grid, or maintain a low profile, can do so effectively even if they already have a "footprint".

[JLawson]

Are you saying we shouldn't mind this because everyone is doing it anyway?

I'm saying that using a RFID tracking system within the constraints, and ONLY within the constraints, of a high school campus does not distinguish itself as a violation of privacy.  I also question the veracity of this student's 'struggle for freedom'.  I suspect that she still uses her mobile phone, her Daddy's credit card, the Internet, and email.  If she truly wants to take a stand against violations of her privacy then she should walk away from all of those things and then the totality of her actions might sway the opinion of skeptics such as myself.  Until she does that, I will view this as the equivocal grandstanding of a precocious albeit rebellious kid whose puppeteers' agenda far exceeds her own dedication to the cause of privacy.

[Solus]

I'd rather look at it as objecting to being forced to do something you choose to do voluntarily in different circumstances.