[LINK] gps on kids

[Richard Chirgwin]

Jan,

I'm with you in the "loss of mind" view. I'm fairly alarmed at the
general trend to replace responsibility and capability with technology
and dependency...

An anecdote. While I was on holidays in the Blue Mountains before new
year, the highway was closed by an accident, and the police diverted
traffic to a minor street to get around it. There were people so
dependent on their GPS that even with police directing the traffic, they
kept trying to follow the GPS instructions.

Tell people they're stupid to become so dependent, and nine times out of
ten, they'll jack up and defend the technology...

RC

Jan Whitaker wrote:
> "freedom of mind" or loss of mind? "Honey, don't mind Charlie. He has 
> his wrist bracelet on. If he wanders, I can find him easily enough." 
> Yeah, and when the kid falls down the storm drain, well, they did 
> find him, didn't they? Doncha just love parents giving up their 
> responsibilities to technology?
>
>
>
> Wrist GPS keeps tabs on straying children
>
> http://www.theage.com.au/news/digital-life/articles/keeping-tabs-on-kids/2009/01/12/1231608576996.html
> January 12, 2009 - 11:51AM
>
> Children may not like it but a British technology firm has invented 
> an electronic babysitter - a wristwatch-like device that lets parents 
> know where their children are at all times.
>
> The GPS Child Locator, or num8, attaches securely to a child's wrist 
> and contains a Global Positioning System (GPS), said Matthew Salmon, 
> a spokesman for the manufacturer, lok8u.
>
> "It uses GPS and GSM (Global System for Mobiles) technology with an 
> accuracy of 10 feet (three meters)," he said. "It tracks your child."
>
> "It only starts working when the device is connected to the child's 
> wrist," Salmon said, and is "very difficult to get off."
>
> "Even if the child managed to get it off it would send an emergency 
> text message through to your mobile phone," he said. "It would give 
> you a Google Maps image with their exact location, the street name 
> and the zip code."
>
> When a child is wearing the device, a parent sends the text message 
> "wru" and the child's current location is sent back to a mobile phone 
> or computer.
>
> Parents can also log on to the company website to discover their 
> child's present location.
>
> "You can also set up a perimeter, an invisible fence, and if they 
> wander out of this invisible fence which you put on the Internet it 
> will warn you," Salmon said. "It will text you immediately."
>
> Salmon said the device is waterproof and shockproof and lasts for 
> three days with a full charge.
>
> It will be available in both Britain and the United States this year 
> and retails for $200 with a $10 dollar a month subscription fee.
>
> He said the company had received thousands of inquiries about the 
> device since launching it this week.
>
> "Fifty percent are positive, 50 percent are negative, that it's a bit 
> Big Brotherish," he said. "But it's really just about letting you 
> have freedom of mind."
>
>
>
> Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
> jwhit at janwhitaker.com
> business: http://www.janwhitaker.com
> personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/
> blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
>
> Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
> sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
> ~Madeline L'Engle, writer
>
> Writing Lesson #54:
> Learn to love revision. Think of it as polishing the silver for 
> guests. - JW, May, 2007
> _ __________________ _
>
>
>