GPS Being Installed in Clothing Now

[alohamonkey]

I'm really glad my parents didn't have this when I was a teenager. 


Jacket includes GPS tracker

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/10/25/gps.jacket.ap/index.html

LONDON, England (AP) -- Parents may worry less about losing their child -- and the kid's expensive coat -- with a new piece of winter wear that includes a global positioning tracker.

The jackets, released this week by the British clothing company Bladerunner, have a GPS tracking device in the lining. The device can track the jacket anywhere in the world, within 43 square feet.

"The jacket is not something that was released due to people losing their kids," said Adrian Davis, a partner at Bladerunner. "It was originally made for mountain climbers, skiers and snowboarders."

Davis said the company decided to make a children's version of the jacket aimed at parents concerned about their children's safety.

Using Google Earth maps, users can watch the jacket wearer move. The movements are updated every 10 seconds.

But they don't need to be online to find out where the person is. Users can also receive alerts to their e-mail or cell phone when the jacket leaves the boundary, meaning parents could potentially receive alerts whenever their children skipped school, left the neighborhood or went to their boyfriend's house -- so long as the child was wearing the jacket.

Bladerunner, which designed the jacket and commissioned Asset Monitoring Solutions to craft the tracking device, made headlines in the spring when they released slash-resistant clothing for children, aimed at those worried about increasing knife crime in London.

The new jacket is also equipped with the slash-resistant lining. The tracking device uses a rechargeable battery that can last for about 18 hours.

A children's tracking jacket costs $500, plus $20 a month for the tracking technology. An adult jacket costs $700.

[Raineyrocks]

I'm glad they didn't have this crap when I was a teenager too!

I was just reading a poll in a magazine about how many people were for or against this rfid crap and a lot of people are all for it.

[alohamonkey]

I'm glad they didn't have this crap when I was a teenager too!

I was just reading a poll in a magazine about how many people were for or against this rfid crap and a lot of people are all for it.

Yeah.  It's being pitched really well.  It's "for your kid's safety".  That's how it's going to be sold.  That's how RFID implantable chips will be sold to the general public as well.  It's sad. 

[Raineyrocks]

I'm glad they didn't have this crap when I was a teenager too!

I was just reading a poll in a magazine about how many people were for or against this rfid crap and a lot of people are all for it.

Yeah.  It's being pitched really well.  It's "for your kid's safety".  That's how it's going to be sold.  That's how RFID implantable chips will be sold to the general public as well.  It's sad. 

Yup, it's like the cattle just walking right into the cattle pen.

[Lasse]

Thankfully technological progress has also given us microwave ovens capable of being operated by a child.

[EJinCT]

"It was originally made for mountain climbers, skiers and snowboarders."


For that reason alone I see this as having a valid use.

As long as the technology isn't mandated/enforced, I don't see this as being a bad thing. The problems arise due to mis-use IMO.

I dunno; I don't think, even if I had one as a teenager, it would have made any difference. 

[alohamonkey]

"It was originally made for mountain climbers, skiers and snowboarders."


For that reason alone I see this as having a valid use.

As long as the technology isn't mandated/enforced, I don't see this as being a bad thing. The problems arise due to mis-use IMO.

I dunno; I don't think, even if I had one as a teenager, it would have made any difference. 

True.  I see the purpose there too.  But once parents adopt this technology for use on their children . . . it will be a small step to mandating it. 

[Ogre]

Using Google Earth maps, users can watch the jacket wearer move.

That should scare the crap out of any parent who fears child molesters.

[alohamonkey]

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202601660

U.K. Kids Get RFID Chips In School Uniforms

Thomas Claburn
InformationWeek
Monday October 29, 2007

Ten schoolchildren in the United Kingdom are being tracked by RFID chips in their school uniforms as part of a pilot program.
If the program proves successful as a way to hasten registration, simplify data entry for the school's behavioral reporting system, and ensure attendance, Trevor Darnborough, whose company, Darnbro, filed for a patent on securing RFID tags to clothing, hopes other schools will be interested, according to the Doncaster Free Press.

The chipped children are enrolled at Hungerhill School in Edenthorpe, England, a secondary school for ages 11 to 16.

David Clouter, a parent and founder of Leave Them Kids Alone, a children's advocacy group, condemned the plan. "With pupils being fingerprinted and now this it seems we are treating children in a way that we have traditionally treated criminals," he told the Doncaster Free Press.

"The system is not intrusive to the pupil in the slightest," Hungerhill teacher Graham Wakeling told the Doncaster Free Press. He also said that all the patents of the children in the trial supported the tracking effort.

Video surveillance is already commonplace in the United Kingdom, and a growing number of schoolchildren are fingerprinted for administrative and security reasons. Since 2001, nearly 6,000 pupils have been fingerprinted in the United Kingdom, the Daily Mail reported earlier this month, with 20 new schools embracing the practice every week.

In a blog post about the report, security expert Bruce Schneier quipped, "So now it's easy to cut class; just ask someone to carry your shirt around the building while you're elsewhere."

[Fluff and Stuff]

I'm sorry but the hiker's jacket seems pretty neat.  We already have GPS tracking in cell phones but this is a little easier to use for the non-tech folks.