DocAndersen
Yesterday I was walking around Downtown Washington, DC. It is getting closer and closer to full tourist season. Although, in fairness to those that do come, DC is much nicer in March (after the Cherry Festival) and April than it in late May. Once the thermometer starts to rise, DC can become very uncomfortable quickly. Anyway what I noticed but I didn’t take a picture of, was that all the school groups had color matching shirts. I was thinking about that for a second, and I realized in the modern world where fear of losing a kid is huge, having all the kids wearing bright orange shirts lets you quickly count the kids and make sure you have the right number. Human’s do the eye dart of predators, having a color we are seeking makes that easier.
The other option that I saw as I came around the national mall, however, was even cooler. I saw a teacher with an iPad watching the group of kids. The kids were all eating lunch; the teacher had a screen on her iPad that I had never seen before. It was a tracking application that showed all the kids on the screen. We chatted or a couple of minutes. The other parents were around the edges of the group as they ate lunch. I did tell her if she needed to break away and stop talking, I wouldn’t be offended. Mostly I was curious how they were tracking, and did the tacking work indoors. I could hear Alex Ledante’s voice in my head also, but I didn’t ask the Alex question (this feels little big brothers)!
They are using a Bluetooth tracking device, and as long as the device doesn’t stray more than 300 feet away from the iPad, the kids are noted. Indoors or outdoors, the system worked pretty well.
From a let’s keep students safe perspective this feels like a good thing. The other side of this, however, if you do this with your children or coworkers. If it is for your children, I don’t think it is an issue. If you are tracking your co-workers for their safety, that is also ok at least IMHO, that said, the person being tracked has to know up front that they are being tracked.
Oh to live in interesting times…
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Question of
Let me ask the question that I suspect Alex will dive into – would you track your child?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Knowing that these trackers don’t require a cell phone would you let your child be tracked?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Do you know knowing where the kids are would make school trips safer?
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Yes
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No
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Q: Let me ask the question that I suspect Alex will dive into – would you track your child?
Yes (10 votes) – 71%
No (4 votes) – 29%
Q: Knowing that these trackers don’t require a cell phone would you let your child be tracked?
Yes (6 votes) – 60%
No (4 votes) – 40%
Q: Do you know knowing where the kids are would make school trips safer?
Yes (13 votes) – 93%
No (1 votes) – 7%
If my son were alive today, I would choose to track him if given the choice.
you are heading in the same direction I am. Given the choice, is the operative phrase.
I don’t mind the teacher tracking the kids when they are in a strange place. But to do this everyday, every moment, no that would be invasion of privacy.
As Carol said in the comment above given the choice. I tend to agree with that. BUt there are legal reasons why you aren’t given a choice (House Arrest). So i agree with you, and I am struggling with this!
In this fast-paced world where I live full of surprises, I suppose my daughters will agree to use this as an option. They’re so worried about my grandchildren that I’m sorry. When my little children were playing all day in the yard. From time to time I watched them through the balcony. But nowadays, young parents have to trust modern technology.
I think that is a great way to put it! It is about what we need as parents, that seems to change frequently!
Im not against a tracking device if the tracker is removable.
I think you’ve hit no critical argument – removable.
Let me lead by saying that since I don’t have children, I don’t think I am eligible to have an opinion on this. But if the trackers are removable, it seems like a good idea
Forcing your employees to get implants? Completely unconstitutional
I knew you would hit the other side!
I am personally still up in the air, even if it is removable. But my fear is the reality of the information provided.
On the side of forcing people – either your own children or your employees that is a much bigger kettle of fish.
Sadly at this particular moment in time, it is neither constitutional or unconstitutional in the US as it has not been legally tested.
I fall on your side of the argument, but there is yet a court battle to be had. Someone is going to have to make it a condition of employment first.
it is unconstitutional regardless of how the supreme court decides. but you’re correct in that there isn’t currently a precedent either way
not to be picky but the term unconstitutional is made up. There is no such thing as anything being unconstitutional until the Supreme Court declares it so. That is in the constitution.
Executive Branch Enforces the law
Judicial Branch rules on the constitutionality of laws
Congress passes the laws
Any law which denies the populace their rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is contrary to the constitution
So it is okay that the term doesn’t have any legal weight, this is what it means
Now you are in the murky legal waters that require a ruling. The issue comes with physical security has been ruled critical to the happiness of people. The bloody Patriot Law actually withstood two distinct attempts to knock it down. So while I agree with you intellectually, the specter of “security: would force a ruling first.
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
-Ben Franklin
Give me Liberty or give me death.
I agree.
the reality is sadly a lot more tenuous than that. It is the responsibility of the governments of the world to protect their people. We can argue how effective they are.
FEMA’s handling of Katrina demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt that the US government is only interested in protecting some of the people…
I frequently work with FEMA, they were truly unprepared for something like Katrina.
even that is disturbing…
FEMA gets way less budget than people realize. They have to respond to disasters all over the US (including our territories). At best they have a hard job. When there are huge (Katrina) or multiple (Houston, Florida and PR) at the same time it is impossible.
but then why were they turning away the red cross and other volunteer organizations? if they’re shorthanded, they should want help
Now you are getting into the reality that most people don’t get. They have resources to support X number of people.
They have services to provide for y number of people.
If X = Y we are all happy.
If X+2 = Y everything works
but if X+2 does not equal Y we are all frustrated.
The problem with the aid groups and the many other groups is that someone has to coordinate.
Put 1000 people in an area that has a damaged cell network that can only support 900 people and you have a problem.
interesting. I hadn’t considered that…
You don’t have to have children to have an opinion on children-related issue Mr. A ?. Don’t you have nephews and nieces you care about?
That said, yes, if I have a kid I would have him/her tracked by me (hell I would go for implant) and during school field trips (removable device of course). It is harder to have kids these days than in the olden days, see. Ever heard of those creepy games on YouTube targetting children and goading them to either commit crime or suicide?
You of course raise a good point.
I sadly am still on the fence.
I don’t feel like I am entitled to an opinion about children, since I don’t have any. or an opinion on gay marriage since I am straight and single. or reproductive rights, since I don’t have a uterus…
Ask me how I feel about net neutrality. I have an opinion about that…
everyone is entitled to speak their mind. The reality of children is, anything that is applied to a child will later potentially be applied to adults.
that’s an interesting point…
Honestly, that is what scares me. I run a team of well 8 people right now (I am missing 3, but we are in process to refill those positions.)
I had to, for the first time in my IT career, ban phones from team meetings explicitly.
There was a lot of grumbling.
if adults are going to act like children, you can treat them like children. you can have your phone back after class…
I do wonder about that sometimes. The reality of connection is the connection. The downside of connection is the connection.
yeah, that weird scenario where the flaws and the merits are identical…
it really is a strange scenario. I wonder about the disconnection event that is going to occur.
(every great change, has a moment of unchange before it is permanent).
of course, when we have direct interface then folks will be able to do all that stuff in their head. you’ll never know if someone is surfing or concentrating…
that is a very interesting way to look at it. thanks for the concept!
I don’t know when we will have the ability to implement DI, but I spend a lot of time thinking about it- split equally between the UI/UX and security
I wish more people started with UX.
it worries me when I see some of the creations people share!
yeah, it can be pretty sad when the UI gets bolted on in the 11th hour by someone with zero affinity for the task
The concept of UX design has become a hugely bifurcated reality.
Bite-sized apps (mobile devices) force bad behavior on both mobile and desktops.
Full-size applications force bad behavior on mobiles devices.
and then we have this myth about user friendly which is often just an excuse to force poor design on the consumer
Friendly users often use user-friendly software.
I remember sitting in the office of a CIO asking about a solution they were deploying.
He smiled.
I asked again
He smiled.
I got the message the second time.
hahahaaha that’s pretty funny
The circumstances today are completely different than they were in our childhood years. I sometimes did not see my son all day, but I did not even worry about where he was, whether something happened to him … today it would be different, I probably would have followed
The delta between yesterday and today is no greater than in what we need to know about our children.
Honestly I am still on the fence with this one.
With all the crazies out there today and the world strange as it is yes, I certainly would track my kids. It would already be a relief that I could get in touch with them by cell phone. In my growing up days the 1960s and 1970s I would not say the world was completely safe but it just felt a whole lot more normal.
It is an interesting reality we live in. Thanks for the comment!
Yeah , there a technology working with GPS and Google which can track you easily by your image and it directly work with satellite. This technology is also used in drone and in combat operations, This technology is not for commercial use but some spy or intelligence people have access officially.
yes there are a growing number of commercial companies doing aI based facial rec
gps mapping of a person isn’t hard. Apple includes it with every iPhone.
In this day and age I think this is a must when children, or even the elderly would be involved.
you are very right, this is a boon for monitoring children and elderly
Unfortunately, there is no one I need to monitor, not my two grown daughters, especially my wife…
yes but would you track your daughters if they were much younger?
Yes, of course. My wife is always fussy if she can’t know where her daughters are, until now!
I saw what the teacher was doing and I am honestly still on the fence.
he fence is what my wife made for my two daughters. They almost never go alone, me or her or we both always drive them, and now at least they have to go together.
It is a very interesting problem overall.
Their mothers are more aware that they are less independent in traveling, but still, that only slightly reduces her protective attitude a little, sometimes… lol
My wife is like that. When it storms, she makes sure the kids, dogs, and such are all safe.
I think our wives have an alike character.
Interesting! I don’t know how the tracking device works without a mobile phone or similar device.
NFC using a Bluetooth dongle that the child wears as a pin.
It is not so dangerous for us at the moment that the child should follow every step … I was never missed by anyone, but I was not home all day … I went to school this morning and returned home tonight
yeah I remember my mother almost never knowing where I was. it is a different world now
It’s really different today and more dangerous today
in fact it is, kind of sad
☀️ I am speechless. Not because there is anything wrong or right about this, but because we truly have come to a place where everyone may have to consider something like this. I couldn’t even take the poll yet because all I could think of was a helpless child and a parent who turned their head for a moment.
I grew up when your neighbors, told your parents the minute you walked out the front door if they thought it was odd.
I must ponder this and return. Thank you for making me think – hard.
when I was a kid we left the house at 8 in the morning in the summer. We got home in time for dinner.
We were outside all day.
In the modern world, you cannot do that.