Carcieri sez govt can track your kids

By John McDaid | Monday, 7 July 2008

Remember that dumb idea to put radio frequency ID tags into schoolkids backpacks in Middletown so they could be tracked remotely? The Lege appropriately passed a bill to prevent similar infringements of civil liberties, but, surprise, Governor Carcieri vetoed it.

Governor Carcieri last week vetoed the bill reasoning in his veto message that “in certain circumstances, it may be helpful for schools to have the ability to quickly identify where each of their students is located.”

“Weather related natural disasters, terrorist or criminal events or even a need for use during field trips and outside school activities,” are examples of such scenarios, Carcieri wrote.

In the age of violent school attacks such as those at Columbine High School in Colorado and at Virginia Tech, school officials should have the option of using technology to keep students safe, he said.

But Rep. Charlene Lima, D-Cranston, the House sponsor of the bill, said it is one thing if parents wish to monitor their children, “however the government should not have a role in tracking people.”
— via Providence Journal

This is something right out of sf-writer and electronic freedom activist Cory Doctorow's recent novel "Little Brother."

This one needs a legislative override. Please write to your reps.

Tags: 
Localblogging, 02871

Comments

Viking

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 10:16pm

It is a scary thought that our government would be in the business of tracking the precise location of people with GPS technology. But the legal rights of children are quite different from the legal rights of adults, and the subject is complicated. Take the bill of rights, for example. Courts have repeatedly ruled that kids have no first amendment rights when it comes to what may be published in a high school newspaper.

With regard to the safety of school children, the memory of Columbine is for may Americans still fresh, and if a community voted to set up technology to help keep track of their kids, I'm not sure this would be a bad thing.

On the other hand, it is true that civil liberties in the United States of America have frequently been threatened - and maybe even more so now than ever, by a Bush Administration that appears to have led the Justice Department to be strictly ruled by politics. Furthermore, many American adults - while at work - already have their whereabouts tracked by GPS satellite, like Fed-Ex and UPS Drivers and, Public Works Department employees.

I don't think that the government needs to restrict the rights of Americans by first restricting the rights of children. It seems, at least under our current President, that the Government can walk all over the Constitution whenever they feel like it.

John McDaid

Tue, 07/08/2008 - 5:17am

Hi, Viking...
I'm afraid my take on this is nowhere near as nuanced as yours. One of the reasons we need the legislature to act is *precisely* to prevent communities from voting to do this. You can make a majority afraid enough of imaginary bogeymen to give up all manner of civil liberties. (Please remove your shoes and place them in the container.)

RFID tags in backpacks would not have prevented Columbine.

If you want parents to be able to keep track of their kids, allow kids to have GPS-enabled mobile phones in school. Then not only parents know where they are, they can talk to them. But please, don't give the government the right to track my child.

Cheers.
-j

Viking

Tue, 07/08/2008 - 8:49am

You point is well made; *Parents* should have the right to keep track of their children - not the government.