Tracking Kids, Tracking Employees -- What's The Difference?
from the walkaway-walkaway-I-will-follow dept
Motorola's decided to throw its hat into the cellular kid-tracking game, its CEO saying it will make phones that allow parents to monitor their child's whereabouts (well, the whereabouts of their phone, anyway) as well as censor content they don't like. This comes the same day as Sprint says it will start offering employee tracking, based on a service that Nextel, its recent purchase, has been using for a while. The benefits of tracking either employees or children aren't necessarily clear: while the idea of always being able to locate your child or keep tabs on an employee might sound wonderful, there's little reason to believe that either group won't figure out how to circumvent any tracking (or censorship) mechanism they don't like, and the unintended consequences of tracking can often outweigh any benefit. Wonder if dogs do the same thing when they're being tracked.
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Irrational Fear
Americans have an irrational fear of authority, government. What's to prevent such tools from potentially creating far more efficient societies? What if other countries in Asia manage to achieve much lower rates of child abductions, or much better traffic management, while we obsess over abstract fears of "tyranny"?
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Re: Irrational Fear
What if somebody posted a troll, and nobody responded?
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Re: Irrational Fear
abstract fears of tyranny my a$$.
theres nothing abstract about it. it is historical fact that ANY government that accrues power will do everything it can to KEEP that power, and even work to increase it at the expense of freedom and free choice.. Tyranny was and is a very real occurrance. the real problem is that far too many people are sheep, unwilling to actaully take a hand in regulating themselves instead relying on "government" to do it for them. crass laziness on the part of most people. It isnt a case of "maybe" the technology (and the power that comes with it) will be abused, but how quickly it will happen. so called "tools" such as this will NOT promote a better society. 'nuff said.
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Child Safety
i have a 14 y o girl in my care who self harms, has boundary issues, runs away whenever she feels she is losing a boyfriend (because he hasn't gotten a bit lately) is treated as a "jack" by blokes almost twice her age, is set up to be humiliated, constantly harassed on chat, txt and email, and thinks that if a group of blokes are trying to get her into a house it's because they think she is "hot".
i will do what i need to ensure her safety b/c at this point in time she actively encourages predators and is caught in a cycle of sexual, physical and mental abuse.
when i rock up at a blokes place she has run to - she knows i am looking out for her, she knows she is cared for. everything she wants in life.
when she realises how valuable she is i will drop the espionage and tracking; till then, her predators are my hobby.
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