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Japanese Schoolchildren to be Tagged with RFID

Posted by timothy on from the hey-those-things-are-out-of-season dept.

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."

25 of 684 comments (clear)

  1. Makes sense for Japanese parents by Dark+Paladin · · Score: 5, Funny

    How else will they know if their schoolchildren are being attacked by this month's Tentacle Monster?

    --
    52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
    1. Re:Makes sense for Japanese parents by NanoGator · · Score: 5, Funny

      "How else will they know if their schoolchildren are being attacked by this month's Tentacle Monster?"

      Boy am I relieved that the first +5 funny in this comment didn't have anything to do with the "they all look alike" stereotype.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    2. Re:Makes sense for Japanese parents by saden1 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Me, I'd pay a square kid in my block to carry my tag home, call my parent with my super cool DoCoMo cell phone and tell them I'll be studying with a friend so I can get into a good cram school. Parent's violation of my privacy problem solved.

      --

      -----
      One is born into aristocracy, but mediocrity can only be achieved through hard work.
    3. Re:Makes sense for Japanese parents by drsmithy · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Parent's violation of my privacy problem solved.

      Children don't have a "right" to privacy. Their parents may choose to respect their children's privacy if they believe them to be mature enough (and most aren't, even once they are legal adults - although it's often not as much of the parents' business after that).

    4. Re:Makes sense for Japanese parents by optikSmoke · · Score: 5, Funny

      ... Tentacle Monster ...

      ... children's cartoon shows ...

      I wonder if you are both talking about quite the same thing......

    5. Re:Makes sense for Japanese parents by bananahammock · · Score: 5, Interesting

      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.

  2. progress by rd4tech · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The tags will be read by readers installed in school gates and other key locations to track the kids' movements.

    /tinfoil_hat_on

    In 2 years replace the word 'kids' with 'employees'.
    In 5 years replace the word 'employers' with 'shoppers'.
    in 9 years replace the word 'shoppers' with...

    /tinfoil_hat_stays_on

    1. Re:progress by harikiri · · Score: 5, Funny

      And once every year, a class of year 9 students will mysteriously disappear, and their tags will gradually wink out over the course of the next three days....

      Only one will survive.

      --
      Man watching 6 MSCE's around a sun box, looks alot like the opening scene's of 2001:space odyssey...
    2. Re:progress by EtherAlchemist · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If your workplace requires you to swipe or wave a little card to allow you to enter or exit areas of the building, you are already being tracked. Those systems report your movement in real-time as you move through those swipe points. At my place of work, it is accompanied on a monitor at the reception and security desk by the picture of the employee (the same appearing on the card).

      Shoppers will come before full-time, real-time employee tracking- more monetary value than employees and probably sooner than 2 years.

      I would be surprised, however, if in 9 years students here are being tracked. I think America's parents are too paranoid to stand for this. I personally have no problem with it, schools in my kids' district are repsonsible (by law, no less) for their whereabouts to and from school. I'd actually find peace of mind in RFID tracking, more so in GPS. Kidnappers and such aren't going to hunt for what they can already see, it's not like some asshole is going to sit in a van looking for GPS or RFID signals when he can look out his window (hey, big news break- kids can be found near schools).

      But a school, however, isn't lurking in a car somewhere watching your kids and they're the ones who SHOULD know where their students are, right? If a signal is reported outside of school during hours or worse, if it goes dead, they would know right away and could take immediate action in finding out why the child is not in school.

      --
      R(k)
    3. Re:progress by Grym · · Score: 5, Insightful

      ...though the though of loosing my little girl does make it seem like an "OK" idea. It is a tough choice for a parent.

      Which is exactly why all restrictions on freedoms have and always will start there. THINK OF THE CHILDREN! It's an emotional device that gets people do what they otherwise wouldn't, but it sets a precedent that can't be taken back.

      As of right now, high-school students do not have the right to free speech or privacy. For example, a student cannot write anything in the school paper that goes against the school administration's views, and any student's locker can be searched at any time without warning. And while this may, admittedly, help prevent embarrassments for the school system or drugs in schools, what sense of civil rights does this instill in them?

      Similarly, if they schools RFID tagging every student, imagine how much easier it will be to get those same people in twenty years to accept a nationalized RFID card/implant.

      -Grym

    4. Re:progress by fuzzix · · Score: 5, Insightful
      I wouldn't be opposed to a chip on a tooth, or a bracelet that required a key

      Don't be surprised if your son suddenly picks up some amateur dentistry and develops a strong distrust of you if you allow this to happen.

      Guess what... I am willing to bet nobody here has a chip in their tooth (unless that charlatan Kevin Warwick is reading) but we're all here! We all made it!

      Guess what... no amount of embedded chips is going to stop a determined individual doing what he thinks is a good idea. Thing is, the attacker might also have a touch of the amateur dentist in him, so the attack could be all the more devastating.

      How about, instead of tracking your son, how about some parenting? Keep an eye on him, you know? The sort of thing this species has been at for more years than historically recorded, you know?
  3. You know those Japanese kids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    They love electronics. They'll probably be signing up for Hello Kitty themed RFID tags voluntarily.

  4. With all due respect by The-Bus · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can't think of any other culture that would want to do something like this. I love Japan. Everything about it seems to be 20 years in the future. If you ever say anything weird or unbelievable, add "in Japan" at the end, and it sounds more realistic.

    Try it out.

    --

    Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.

  5. Stalkers by whfsdude · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What happens when someone else besides the school is able to access them? I can view my whole school district's security cams and people think that is a privacy issue.

    What is going to happen when someone is able to track these kids and it isn't the school?

  6. Battle Royale by KingEomer · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hmmm. Who wants to start placing bets on which child will emerge as the lone survivor of class 9-B?

  7. Oh yeah? by maggeth · · Score: 5, Funny

    Longhorn is released, nearly bug-free, and crushes Linux once and for all... in Japan!

    --
    Slashdot in 5 Paragraphs
  8. Re:People may complain but.. by jeffkjo1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    .. if it saves one kid, then it's worth it...

    This argument is such a fallacy. Why don't we encase our children in 'Nerf'? After all, then they would just bounce off of cars when they run out in the street.

    If it saved one child, it's worth it right?

  9. Sounds like... by niew · · Score: 5, Funny
    Japanese schoolchildren in the city of Osaka will be tagged with RFID tags.

    ... a Mutual of Omaha Special.

    Come with us now as we study the migratory patterns of the Japanese School Child.

    [Helicoptor flys over a school yard full of children, one is separated out from the herd and tranqualized with a dart, scientist staples an RFID tag in his ear...]

  10. Re:People may complain but.. by lewp · · Score: 5, Funny

    That would be so cool.

    --
    Game... blouses.
  11. Seems like a good diea by MC_Cancer_Pants · · Score: 5, Funny

    but then you couldn't put your kids in the microwave anymore.

  12. Re:People may complain but.. by TylerL82 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why don't we encase our children in 'Nerf'? After all, then they would just bounce off of cars when they run out in the street.

    Because that would ENCOURAGE kids to run out into the street so they could be hit by cars.
    ...Lord knows that's what I'd do...

  13. Stopping Abduction? by 1337+Twinkie · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I know a lot of people here think this can fight abduction. But how? Would a kidnapper really care whether or not the kid has a tag? If the sensors were placed EVERYWHERE, maybe they could track a missing child, but the abductor would certainly not stick around school with a tagged (or any) kid. I could see this as a potential means to fight truency, but not abduction.

  14. False sense of security. by R2.0 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    --
    "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
  15. How Japanese Students Get to School by KingDork2K3 · · Score: 5, Informative

    As an English teacher at a Japanese elementary school, I'd like to explain a few things about how the commuting works for students here.

    Almost no kids in Japanese public schools are driven to school by their parents. It is not against the rules, but is generally discouraged. Public schools generally do not have buses, though some students will take a bus if their parents can afford it and they live far from school. Middle and high school students might bike or take a train, but those are often off-limits for elementary students, who must either walk or come by bus (Kids generally go to the local elementary/middle school, but there are exams for high school, which might require a long trip every day).

    In my small rural town (pop. 7000), and in many other places, elementary and middle school students who are walking/biking must follow certain routes to and from school. Teachers are posted at locations along the route to check up on the students. But, they can't be everywhere. The middle school in my town has recently had problems with middle-aged men approaching female students. Students are out in the open for a much longer period of time than in the US and are thus bigger targets.

    That said, I don't want to see my students given RFID tags. However, I wouldn't be surprised if it became very popular here. Elementary and middle school students already have tags with their full name and the school's name on it which must be worn at all times. Also, nearly all middle and high schools have uniforms. With all this required attire, it's hard for students to go someplace after school that they're not supposed to be, and this is part of the point. People will even sometimes complain to a school if they see its students doing something they don't approve of. There is already a lot of monitoring in place here, and I don't see this as being a big shift.

    Related article -
    http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle. pl5 ?ek20040520ag.htm

    PS - It's not that important, but the CNET article is poorly written and unclear. Osaka city and Wakayama prefecture are completely seperate places, but someone who knows very little about Japan might think that Osaka city is the small "town" in Wakayama where the RFID tags are being tested. Anyone have a better article?

  16. Re:"Children don't have a "right" to privacy." by fuzzix · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hey, who better to do drugs than kids? What are you gonna fuck up at age 16 that you can't bounce back from - what, you going to get a F?

    I can't do drugs any more - At my age I have shit to do. I can't go on a 2 day acid binge cos I have to move my car on street sweeping day. Drugs are for kids.

    Paraphrased from a piece by the guy in my sig