Take Your RFID and "Put it Where the Sun Don't Shine"

I read an article today on Yahoo.com about a school in the UK that is piloting a surveillance device in youths' school uniforms --RFID Chips in School Uniforms Track Students.
The devices are embedded in the uniforms of children between the ages of 11-16.

I was rather alarmed by the article. My first thoughts were "why are they tracking school age children?" I know some parents out there will say "it's for their protection." For their protection from who or what? If the assumption is the device will protect them from sexual predators, I still ask how. It is a known fact that most crimes committed against children occur from people they know. So how is a tracking device going to save your child when they are being molested by the baby sitter, a priest or a family relative. Are you hoping to protect them from being kidnapped? Most news reports I hear about youngsters being kidnapped always ends in the children being murdered. And I'm sure the criminals are aware of the RFIDs in the uniforms; a quick tug, rip, and toss of the uniform and you have a half-dressed child being taken from the school playground.

I ask again, what is the purpose of tracking your child? Is it a matter of trust? So Johnny or Jenny say they are going to be at a friend's house but they end up somewhere else. Do you think they are going to keep their uniform on to go to this new location when they know it has a tracking device in it?

How do you explain to your child this evasion of their privacy, this lack of trust?

The advocates for such surveillance devices on children like cell phones, video cameras in bedrooms and RFIDs will always say is to protect them...and I ask again "protect them from who and what."

I say get to the root cause of why children need to be protected and start there. I say harsher punishments for perpetrators of crimes against children, more intensive treatment for released sex-offenders, stricter rules about where they can live and work and be more critical of the companies that sexualize youth...put RFIDs in their attaché cases and wallets. I say more public dialog in schools, churches and communities about real people, real crimes and real motives.

All in all, the notion of surveillance creating safety is a hyped-up myth; it's an illusion that some people cling to because looking at real life is too hard for them to handle; looking at real life means you need to think and take action; it means you have to make some sacrifices on the weekends; it means you have to talk to other people and get involved in collective work; it means you have to hang up the cell phone, turn off the PDA, pause your iPod, and see, hear, feel what is going on around you; it means you have to be present; it means you have to be human.

Look around here in Baltimore; blue lights on every street corner, the "man" is watching you; police surveillance to "protect" you, keep you safe, cut down on illegal activity...yet the crime rates and drug traffic here tops the charts.

I say take your RFID and "put it where the sun don't shine."

Beyond 2nd Life

Virtual world software applications' review

How Cell Phones Are Killing Face-to-Face Interactions

In my quest to find other "like-minded" individuals, I ran across this article that talks about how inter personal relationships are suffering due to the new reliance on computer mediated communications.

While I love computer technology, I think there are some social aspects that people should be aware of and approach the subject with a critical lenses.

Go here to read the article

What are you doing? Twittering

I came across an article in Wired magazine about a "new" social networking application called Twitter http://twitter.com.

It combines the technologies of instant messaging, blogging and texting. I would like to know what is the difference between twittering and texting?

Anyone know off the top of their head?

Digital Media and Copyrights

During tonight's lecture I started thinking about an incident in which me and a friend made a documentary about members in our community. To make certain segments more engaging, we added music to the background. We thought about selling the DVDs for a fund raiser for our grassroots organization; but the idea was shot down when the issue of copyrights to the songs we used in the background came up.

My initial responses to this topic is who cares if you old song tracks are in a community based documentary...it's not like the film is going to be screened in Hollywood and draw in huge revenue. Are there some type of "copyright cops" who are going to swoop down and sue us???

I believe music, video, pictures, animations, etc should be open to public use for non profits, documentary makers, people in education and maybe there more out there who I missing that should be able to re-use and re-purpose various types of media.

The Digital Divide 2.0

Why the gap is not closing:

There is a new trend with computer technologies that are more available and accessible to the common folk. The trend consists of non-profits and community based organizations using computers and internet technologies to promote and advance their work. However, there is still evidence of a digital divide among the users and usages of this newly accessible technology.

People seem to forget that the same "Johnnie" from inner-city ville, who grew up in the mid-nineties--during a time in which studies showed even though there were computers in his school, he was either not allowed adequate time to use them and/or the types of software applications on them did not foster critical thinking and problem-solving--is now the adult "Johnnie" residing and working in inner-city ville. With this in mind, further examination of the factors that discouraged or prohibited "Johnnie" from becoming computer literate and savvy in his younger days have carried over to his resistance or lack of participation in the new trends of computer technology within communities to promote change.

I believe questions about attitudes, perceptions, experiences, and relevancy in regards to access and usage need to be addressed in order to truly understand why the digital divide has not been closed yet.

(Note to myself: The Digital Divide 2.0 draft ideas for research paper. Questions to come...)

And the World Goes Around

Privatization and the Internet...
(just getting my thoughts together...more to come about the battle to get access at cheaper prices to the masses...a reversal of what was done in the past)