Yesterday I came across a blurb about technology that disturbed me: a school in the UK is testing out the usage of RFID chips in children's school uniforms. While the concept may well be valid - for preventing truancy and tracking a child's whereabouts in the instance of an abduction - I really see much greater negatives to the concept than positives.
Besides the religious issues that will be raised by Christians familiar with "the mark" (especially by those familiar with the Left Behind series), such a tracking system has serious privacy invasion implications for both children and adults - particularly corporate employees. Here's why:
- While I believe that schools/school administrators have a valid right to search school property (buses, desks, and lockers, for instance) in the cases of necessity (a report of stolen property, drugs, or weapons), I am concerned that inserting a tracking device into children's clothing will create an opportunity for abuse of power and the system. Will the system only be activated when an administrator needs to find a child due to "skipping" class or a reported abduction/runaway? Or will the system always be monitoring children? If it's the latter, the privacy of a child is definitely being invaded. Even parents cannot monitor their children every minute of the day - and in the case of the average "good kid", there's really no valid reason to do so.
- Further abuse of the system could occur if a school is not performing background checks on staff and faculty, and someone slips under the radar who wants to harm a child. If use of the monitoring system is not limited to strictly enforced times and to a certain group of key individuals with valid reasons for finding a child, it is easy to see where a person with ill intent could track a child's movements, location at various times of day, and other information reported and lie in wait for their victim.
- The implications such a system has for adult employees, of schools and corporations, is huge. Are these teachers willing to be monitored in a similar fashion? If tracking is continuous, are they willing to be questioned about why they were in the bathroom for "so long" or out of the classroom for more than a certain time period? Would teachers who feel children should be monitored be willing to be "watched" themselves?
- As for corporate employees - if such chips are in place on everyone in uniform, we're looking at UPS drivers who are going to be making sure they don't stop to chat with package recipients for more than a certain time period for fear of being questioned about why they were at a location; postal employees who can be timed for how long they are in the mail room versus how long they are out on the road; soldiers and sailors whose whereabouts can be questioned by higher-ups if they pop up as being at the gas station during lunch for more than a certain time period.
While RFID monitoring may have some positive impact by tracking and alerting supervisors to employee fraud (for instance, if a police officer is napping in his squad car instead of proactively patrolling the streets), the implications of what can go wrong are much greater.
If those of us in "free" societies allow our children to be monitored with microchip technology, expounding on the way we find lost pets, we risk teaching them one thing: it is okay for you to bow under and let the administration do whatever they like in the name of safety. As they age, they will become accustomed to constantly being under the magnifying glass and will either rebel or become cattle walking gladly to slaughter. At the very least, if your child's school "offers" to implement such a program, question them deeply and consider, in your heart of hearts, what the program usage could mean for adults in the future.
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