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Students Tracked In UK College Via RFID For 1-3 Years
wendyg writes "As part of redeveloping its three-site campus and without consultation with parents or the Information Commissioner, the UK's West Cheshire College installed a highly detailed tracking system using ultrawideband RFID tags handed out to its 14- to 17-year-old students. The system, which cost up approximately £1 million, was abandoned earlier this year because of escalating costs and lack of the functionality the college wanted. The college has been reluctant to answer questions, dubbing privacy campaigner and persistent questioner Pippa King 'vexatious,' and material relating to the trial has been vanishing off the Net. The law requiring parental consent for the use of biometrics in schools (for things like taking attendance and paying for meals) came into force last month. It seems it already needs to be updated."
No RFID required to track you all day. Cameras everywhere. Carrying a cellphone? Driving a car?
We already know where you are, and where you're going.
My karma ran over your dogma
This isn't biometrics. This is RFID.
In SOVIET RUSSIA... erm...NSA AMERICA, the Internet logs onto YOU!
Anyone who wants to track anyone else. Must first wear a gps enabled public accessable camera 24-7 for 1 full year.
If after that you STILL think it's a good idea. We shoot you in the head.
We haven't tried this yet. I'm sure it can work.
Make it mandatory to wear Google Glasses and an EEG. Oh and you're not allowed to turn it off. You know, like cellphones, can't take out the battery either.
Anyone who wants to track anyone else. Must first wear a gps enabled public accessable camera 24-7 for 1 full year.
If after that you STILL think it's a good idea. We shoot you in the head.
We haven't tried this yet. I'm sure it can work.
I'd rather spank them silly with a hardcover edition of Orwell's '1984' with the Eurythmics playing "1984" in the background.
So.. someone got their hands on the Marauder's Map..
Train the next generation to accept it as normal.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
One of the students or their parents needs to submit a request for all the data held about the student by the college; data protection laws in the UK require ANY data holder to provide this in full for £10 ($17). This MUST include a full record of all that was recorded about them by this system. Once that has been obtained, we will know the reality, rather continue to speculate.
Does anyone else find the title "Information Commissioner" Orwellian in itself?
Lahey?
FC Closer
Not all individual tracking is evil. If they were forced into the system, or they violated privacy laws, then reprimand appropriately and move on.
Traffic has a similar problem. With simple traffic flow measuring, you see that exit 220 was high volume and too crowded, so you expand it. If you had tracked cars end-to-end, you'd have seen that the real bottleneck was the absurdly bad exit 219, which nobody used, since 220 was, albeit slow, still better than taking exit 219.
You can likely simulate student moments from class to class, department to department, and building to building since you know their schedules (must walk from the McKinley building to the Grant building in 10 minutes on Wednesdays at 1:20pm), but figuring out when individual students from individual classes go on their breaks and schedule gaps is a challenge akin to the exit 220 issue, and if you're genuinely interested in planning your new buildings in a way that don't hamper an already busy campus, you track individual movements.
Let tinfoil types opt out.
You also forgot to paste this pertinent tidbit:
An analysis by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank
You don't think they may have some ulterior motivation to use scare tactics do you?
Don't be silly
I can't stand these 'privacy is dead' or 'privacy is an anomaly' douchebags...we have whatever privacy that we as consumers/voters demand!
I appreciate the finality and certainty of your joke...we really do need to just tell the 'privacy is dead' people to fuck off and die...or w/e language is appropriate for the context ;)
'fuck off and die'...we geeks need to start drawing lines for what work we'll do...
imagine a world where tracking people for profit is ****TOO EXPENSIVE**** b/c you have to pay too much to get someone who will do it!
Thank you Dave Raggett
Steve Irwin, slowly sneaking up on a student with net, tranquilizer gun and tracking device.
"Crikey! These can be meaner than a crocodile if you corner them outside of homeroom."
Have gnu, will travel.
Yep, it's called a Subject Access Request (SAR) and can be used to belt companies over the head. Every UK company claims to follow the Data Protection Act and has certificates plastered in their receptions to show how great they are, but I've yet to find a company that follows the law.
Here's a good tool: send your SAR and wait for the reply. 99% of the time, they will not include the letter you sent them requesting the SAR. This is one piece of documentation you know without doubt they have in their posession. Beat them over the head for failing to comply. Small claims court - arbitration these days - can then be used as the next beating tool.
Have fun.
This post contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.
What kind of college has students that are 14 - 17 years old?
A group at a college wants total access to track everything about students, spending undisclosed funds with undisclosed backers for undisclosed reasons, and they can't actually share the results because it is sensitive? And that's on top of a vague goal as to what this would accomplish.
Well, at least there is some consistency to this fascist trend.
>>"ad space available -- low rates!!!"
Good point. Here is the video if the data they were capturing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gURgaf9x26w
very much like the Marauders Map!