Putting GPS Chips in Children & Teens

[samusaran253]

I was on another forum, the official Star Wars: The Old Republic forum of all places, where someone made a thread make a ridiculous claim that at birth all people should be forced to have a GPS tracking chip inserted into their brain. His argument was that it would help stop abductions and kidnappings. He also said it would help stop teen sex, drug & alcohol abuse, breaking curfew, and other acts of civil disobedience. The entire community, save for Geshalt (another user) and the OP, then told him how horrible of an idea it was. People cited references to totalitarian government, human rights violations, how such a thing could be abused by the government/abusive parents/pedophiles who figure out how to track kids and teenagers.

People also said how it's like treating human beings like cattle. Some users said that it should be allowed up until they turn 13 and then it should be removed, and other users said that if you need a GPS locator to keep your children safe, then you shouldn't have kids. Personally I'm against such a thing, it's a very slippery slope after all, and I while I'm not a minor, I probably would have killed myself as a teenager if my parents and/or the government could figure out my exact location at any given time. I sarcastically told the OP that he might as well have thought police while he was at it. So, what do you think of this?

 

[Ganondorf]

There are a lot of parents who insert these chips into their kids' brains. They are like a wall covering that kid from the rest of the world's harshness, and that's why the kids of such parents grow up and Fail in life. Why? because they're not experienced with handling the things the way they really are.
And another thing why putting GPS chips into kids' brains is wrong is because that way you literally show that you don't have faith and do not believe that kid; You don't trust it. That's a bad thing. Really bad.

 

[fladdermasken]

What I make of this?

Locking your kids up in the cellar with 3 meals a day and regular exercising programs will definitely keep them warm and safe from common hazards, but it sure as hell isn't ideal.
Not even discussion worthy AFAIC.

 

[samusaran253]

Maybe if people were better parents this would have never been brought up in the first place.

 

[Fussiler1]

More power to the government? Hell no.

 

[WherewolfTherewolf]

2 words:
Robot Overlords

My guess is that the original thread was trolling, of course this may be a continuation of said trolling but from the way you've explained your reaction to it I doubt it.

 

[samusaran253]

More power to the government? Hell no.

qft

 

[MySpaceBarBroke]

When such GPS technology becomes available, GPS tracking in children would definitely become a viable option, and we'll have to consider its implications.

Can you imagine a world where no child ever gets lost or kidnapped? And at what cost? You will know where your children are at all times. Is this an intrusion on their privacy? Probably. But it seems to be a pretty small price. They ARE children, after all. And I've seen more degrading things done to kids.

Mandatory? As in government mandated? Eh, that's sketch. But what if parents decided whether or not children would get GPS tracking devices? Would it be viable then?

 

[WherewolfTherewolf]

As if asian/soccer mom/conservaligilous parenting wasn't harsh enough on the kids anyway.

While there should be measures to prevent child abduction, you can't go with something so blatently harsh, especially on older children (know how life alert works? Why not something like that that the kid triggers on their own (note we're talking like 13 and up here)). Especially when it comes to things like tracking their movements, everyone has to make their own mistakes sometime and cracking down on them only would want to make them do whatever it is you don't want them to do more.

 

[fladdermasken]

Can you imagine a world where no child ever gets lost or kidnapped? And at what cost? You will know where your children are at all times. Is this an intrusion on their privacy? Probably. But it seems to be a pretty small price. They ARE children, after all.

I would say no in most cases, freedom should only be compromised for safety if the situation absolutely demands it.
If put to practice, it should be compulsory to remove it at age 10 (give or take a year or two).

This of course implies complication if you consider governmental interference undesirable.

Mandatory? As in government mandated? Eh, that's sketch. But what if parents decided whether or not children would get GPS tracking devices? Would it be viable then?

No, I would personally favor trusting the government rather than parents considering this has to be structured and shouldn't invoke emotional complications.

 

[Persian]

Must say that I fully understand your arguments but don't you think freedom was already abolished the second we were born? Humans are born free though wherever she turns she's in schackles thus speaking of absolute "freedom" is as asinine as my participation in the continuum of this discussion. You can't remove something that was never given.

 

[WherewolfTherewolf]

Please pay attention to post dates when posting, this is a pretty big necro post
Of course feel free to necro a thread that you have legitimate reason to continue, like if new information or something came out on the topic, but for a little debate like this it'd be better to just start a new topic if you legitimately wanted to talk about the subject.