RFID for school kids or not - the debate continues

Filed in archive Privacy and Security on January 11, 2008

A Rhode Island school is testing RFID on school kids so that their whereabouts could be traced but this has already created a lot of controversy even before it could be implemented on a full scale. Here I came across this video which highlights a debate between Lis Wiehl, a legal analyst and Mark Eislersh who is a defense attorney as to whether school children need to be tagged or not. Though it turned out to be inconclusive but I feel that it can surely come to the aid of parents who are anxious about leaving their toddlers in the school bus.

RFID is not keeping a watch on the child all the time and only comes into action when the child boards the bus. The issue of pedophiles spying on the data was also raised but I don't think it would be easy for them to extract information for misuse from the tags since it would contain only an ID number and nothing else. One must consider the fact that they are all round and even on the internet and your children are quite vulnerable so does this mean you should stop using the internet or sending them out. By putting forward this point I would like to say that we need to control the menace from the root itself rather than using it as an excuse for stunting the growth of technology. Finally talking about the privacy aspect I would like to ask you a question whether it is more important than the safety and well being of tour child? Think about it!!