Japanese government to track kids via mobile handsets
By Darren Murph 
posted Jan 8th 2007 11:55AM
posted Jan 8th 2007 11:55AM
Here's a tip: don't relocate to Japan unless you're entirely down with being monitored practically everywhere you go. Sure, things aren't that serious quite yet, but with RFID tracking going on in schools, prisons, airlines, and now, um, everywhere else, you can pretty much rest assured that big brother is indeed taking notes. The next step in mass monitoring involves GPS, RFID, and cellphones, and the service is intended to track kids' whereabouts and alert parents whenever they enter potentially "dangerous areas." Reportedly, RFID readers will be setup in various areas (like school gates and electric polls) and track tags carried by (incredibly obedient) children, or better yet, simply monitor the GPS locator in the youngster's handset. Of course, we've no idea where these "danger zones" could be, nor how long the crime lords of the area will actually let that pole-sitting RFID reader remain in tact, but the system is supposed to be piloted in "20 regions across the country" real soon.[Via Textually]
Well, they don't have school bus system so the kids walk or sometimes take public transportation to commute.
After so many kids getting kidnapped, injured, and murdered in most terrifying ways, parents are desperate and even pushing the government to try a system like this.
For a decade or so, Japanese cell phone carriers have been providing tracking service where parents can lookup on a website where their kids are, but they've learned it the hard way that it takes only minutes if not seconds to kidnap a child. So you want a system that continuously monitors your kids' locations and automatically raise alarm (possibly Amber alert also).
Engadget, rather than crying cheap and usual big brother, why don't you suggest alternatives or ways to improve their current plan? You'd be a hero if you can secure those kids without giving up any privacy.
Well, they don't have school bus system so the kids walk or sometimes take public transportation to commute.
No different than much of urban America.
You'd be a hero if you can secure those kids without giving up any privacy.
That can never be done with a system that externally tracks one's whereabouts. If two people have a piece of information, it's no longer private, is it?
Assuming your concerns about kidnapping are worth taking seriously, (what happened to Japan having such a lower violent crime rate than the US?) this system should be a kidnapper's dream. Why take the risk of running your own surveillance, when you can stay out of sight and (illegitimately) use this?
"A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both and deserve neither."
Thomas Jefferson
Disney's got cell phone's out that have all the same functions and are marketed for the same purpose in the States. What's the difference between a company and a government pursuing the same end? Oh yeah, the government, in theory, doesn't have a vested interest in profits.
To Engadget author: Who seems more backwards now?
This is hardly any different from anything we have now in the good old freaking US of A.
please stop whalling it is cruel and unfair to those who dedicate their time to keep the whales alive. I know it is used in food, mediaction etc. but is there no other way to live without it. I seem to manage fine without any trace of whale in my life, and i am healthy.
From Paige