Wired News: Tracking Junior With a Microchip
First the Japanese, now the Mexicans. It's coming to the US soon, according to this article. The pet tracking version of this hasn't been a huge success in the US, but I think that's probably more an issue of cost. See earlier posts on surveillance of children.
This whole thing seems particularly insidious to me -- first, kids simply don't have "rights" the way real "persons" do. Second, they will adapt to pretty much any abuse. (They'll be way fucked up, but they will adapt....) Third, they won't put up much of a fight, and if they do, it won't matter. Every day, millions of them sit in straight lines and respond to the ringing of bells, and are taught to mindlessly obey an incredible set of arbitrary rules without complaining. If they buck the program, just medicate them into submission.
So we seem to be raising the first generation of kids raised in a virtual Skinner box. And since we are slow to defend our own privacy out of a need to feel "safe," how much more will we inflict on our children because of our anxiety over their safety? After all, it's for their own good...
very well said.
Posted by: victor | October 10, 2003 at 01:51 PM