After today’s discussion on the use of RFID’s and school buses I came across this article and several others just like it. It seems that school districts all over the United States and the world are starting to incorporate RFID technology beyond school buses to track students. One article I read described how a school in India plans to replace manual attendance taking in classrooms with school id bracelets equipped with RFID technology that the students wear. Other articles mentioned that this technology could be used to help diagnosis hyperactive disorders in students, by tracking their movements in classrooms. These proposed ideas for expanded use of RFID in schools, like most IT advancements, immediately caused me to consider the privacy concerns that will inevitably result.
How secure is the information transmitted on these RFID bracelets? Could this specific information be intercepted by criminals interested in tracking children outside of the school?
I personally feel that the potential benefits of integrating RFID technology more into school systems will vastly outweigh the potential problems. Still I feel that mass integration of this technology will take years because of privacy advocates comparing these initiatives to something out of George Orwell’s 1984.
Do you think RFID technology should be expanded in schools or not? If expanded where does it end, at what age do we stop monitoring children, who determines this? If we monitor students in schools, will this eventually lead to companies monitoring employees the same way? This could potentially be a slippery slope.
Where does it end?
ReplyDeleteIt Depends, 5 years ago I worked in Chile in the mining industry. Among all the projects I saw there was a "Safety RFID" one.
"A tag on every miner" was call and only to be use on case of an emergency. Well, all the Union workers were against it and it was sabotage. I would have like to have the opportunity to ask them about this project in last August, when 33 country men were under 700 mts of earth...
So i guess it depends where does it stop. Technology is here but only visionaries can really find ways to use it with out going against our paradigms and fears.
No one wants to be tracked, but we all want to tracked something or someone. I do not know if you ever have lost a child in a mall, but I lost mine for about 10 minutes and it was a nightmare!! I would have no problem in paying for this service.
If we just use common sense and define what is it we want to track and why, then maybe the slope can be more friendly.
"...help diagnosis hyperactive disorders in students, by tracking their movements in classrooms." I found it very interesting that this, along with saving paper (from the article), would be used as arguments towards tracking students. I think the privacy issues are much greater concerns.
ReplyDeleteBut after reading Fernando's comment, I can see how arguments can be made for both sides of the issue. To me, the difference is the purpose of tracking -- so in the case of miners, there is a high risk of emergency situations. It makes sense that this was bought up as something to look into. In the case of the students, however, if the primary purpose is for attendance-logging reasons, then I'm not totally convinced it's worth it.
Before coming back to school, I was teaching and I found the comment about tracking student movement to diagnose ADHD a little weird. The diagnosis of hyperactivity conditions is not always a black and white situation and teachers are generally pretty good at determining which kids have the most excess energy. However, I would be very excited to hear about using technology to help kids with hyperactivity. In fact, there is research which shows that as children spend more time inside and with technology, health and behavior problems are more of an issue. Personally, using this technology to diagnose is of little value to me, but perhaps it could be used to find solutions--any ideas?
ReplyDeleteOn a completely different note regarding tracking, I recently adopted a cat from the MSPCA. When they spay/neuter every animal, they implant a chip that can be scanned so if the animal is ever found again, it can be traced back to its owner. This is a free service which is used for every adopted animal.