Network Computing is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

RFID Tracks School Kids

If you yearn nostalgically for the era before instant messaging and Blackberries, then spare a thought for high school students in the north of England who have become true prisoners of technology.

Ten students at Hungerhill School in Edenthorpe, South Yorkshire, are currently being tracked by RFID chips embedded within their school uniforms as part of a trial to monitor their movements around the school buildings.

By keeping track of RFID chips in the school badges on the pupils' blazers, teachers will be able to monitor attendance on a computerized system and could even block access to certain parts of the school, according to the Doncaster Free Press newspaper.

RFID is already used to track foodstuffs, aircraft parts, and even medical equipment, but monitoring high schoolers must be a first for the technology.

Not surprisingly, civil liberties campaigners are up in arms about this use of RFID, which could set a precedent for other schools in the UK and elsewhere.

  • 1