Kids are People Too
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
–US Constitution: Amendment IV
Students, it seems, stand to lose what few rights they still have. A public elementary school in rural California has implemented a new policy which requires students to wear radio frequency identification (RFID) badges to track their movements on school property. The badges were introduced about a month ago and are very similar to devices used to track livestock. The school has stated several reasons for implementing the new system, without parental input. The first is to facilitate attendance-taking. Apparently reading off a list of names is too difficult for teachers in Sutter, CA. The other stated purpose is to reduce vandalism and improve student safety. I was unaware that vandalism and violence were big problems in small rural communities. But I suppose they have a point, those 2nd graders have been known to call each other some pretty nasty names. The school also plans to add barcodes to the badges so that students can use them to purchase lunch at the cafeteria and check out books. What advantages does this system offer that would justify the huge rights violations? The truth is, not very many. It removes one or two steps of data entry in attendance-recording and does away with paper hall passes (if the school had them). The school does not seem to have had any real safety issues. So why the unnecessary change? As with most government actions, following the money often leads to the real motives. It turns out that the company which developed this RFID system, InCom Corp., is located near Sutter and was co-founded by a parent of a former student and appears to paying the school quite handsomely for allowing its students to be guinea pigs.
Two of the students did what needs to be done more frequently, they said no. The ACLU is threatening a suit and hopefully the courts will tell the school that it can’t play Big Brother with US citizens. While those Americans under 18 may be subject to the command of their parents, they are still entitled to the same protections as everybody else when it comes to the government. The 4th Amendment still applies. School officials cannot search their students without a warrant. They cannot have police raid the school in some wild goose chase for drugs, and, in the process, treat every student like a criminal (see picture of students on the ground while cops watch with guns drawn). These actions are flat out UNCONSTITUTIONAL, that is unless they think minors don’t count as “people.”
For more information on the RFID story go to http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6942751/.
For information on the 2003 police raid of Stratford High School go to http://www.thememoryhole.org/policestate/stratford-raid.htm. A video of the incident (Real player required), can be found at http://www.aclu.org/DrugPolicy/DrugPolicy.cfm?ID=14576&c=19.
–US Constitution: Amendment IV
Students, it seems, stand to lose what few rights they still have. A public elementary school in rural California has implemented a new policy which requires students to wear radio frequency identification (RFID) badges to track their movements on school property. The badges were introduced about a month ago and are very similar to devices used to track livestock. The school has stated several reasons for implementing the new system, without parental input. The first is to facilitate attendance-taking. Apparently reading off a list of names is too difficult for teachers in Sutter, CA. The other stated purpose is to reduce vandalism and improve student safety. I was unaware that vandalism and violence were big problems in small rural communities. But I suppose they have a point, those 2nd graders have been known to call each other some pretty nasty names. The school also plans to add barcodes to the badges so that students can use them to purchase lunch at the cafeteria and check out books. What advantages does this system offer that would justify the huge rights violations? The truth is, not very many. It removes one or two steps of data entry in attendance-recording and does away with paper hall passes (if the school had them). The school does not seem to have had any real safety issues. So why the unnecessary change? As with most government actions, following the money often leads to the real motives. It turns out that the company which developed this RFID system, InCom Corp., is located near Sutter and was co-founded by a parent of a former student and appears to paying the school quite handsomely for allowing its students to be guinea pigs.
Two of the students did what needs to be done more frequently, they said no. The ACLU is threatening a suit and hopefully the courts will tell the school that it can’t play Big Brother with US citizens. While those Americans under 18 may be subject to the command of their parents, they are still entitled to the same protections as everybody else when it comes to the government. The 4th Amendment still applies. School officials cannot search their students without a warrant. They cannot have police raid the school in some wild goose chase for drugs, and, in the process, treat every student like a criminal (see picture of students on the ground while cops watch with guns drawn). These actions are flat out UNCONSTITUTIONAL, that is unless they think minors don’t count as “people.”
For more information on the RFID story go to http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6942751/.
For information on the 2003 police raid of Stratford High School go to http://www.thememoryhole.org/policestate/stratford-raid.htm. A video of the incident (Real player required), can be found at http://www.aclu.org/DrugPolicy/DrugPolicy.cfm?ID=14576&c=19.
posted by Conor at 11:05 PM
1 Comments:
And I thought having to wear an ID on a lanyard was bad...
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