When everyone has electronic tags, not just kids, criminals

As a concerned parent, a GPS wrist phone for kids that has an SOS function seemed like a good idea. The Beijing Red Cross Foundation sponsors the device and 20,000 of them are initially being handed out to the capital city's primary and secondary school students. Sounds like a reasonable measure to deal with stranger danger, schoolyard stabbings and the estimated 200,000 abductions that happen every year in the country.

Parents pay 840 yuan ($127) for the black plastic devices that look like clunky watches, strap them on their kids in the morning and track them on the organization's website. If there's an emergency, the kids press "SOS" and parents can hear on their phones what's going on. Like any other phone, kids can talk to their mom or dad anytime, except in class, presumably.

But why stop there? I mean, why just the kids of concerned parents who can afford 840 yuan? Why just Beijing? Safety first. If all kids had them, then parents could have peace of mind and the world would be a safer place.

In fact, if we could get our kids used to wearing these devices then they would grow up knowing no different and become adults accustomed to being tracked and available at any time.

Think of the positives. Employers wouldn't need to bother with clocking in and clocking out systems. If an employee claimed they were sick it would be easy to check that they were in bed convalescing, or at the hospital seeing a doctor. Think of the savings.

Businesses would relish the information these tags could provide and the Minority Report scenario where Tom Cruise goes into a shop and is greeted by adverts customized to his profile is a simple computer calculation away.

The device could even save marriages, or more accurately, prevent the grounds for divorce. Wives and husbands could keep a virtual eye on their partners at all times. No longer could errant spouses, girlfriends and boyfriends claim they were working late at the office, but actually wining and dining with a significant other.

Governments would, of course, welcome the system. Every citizen accounted for. Crime would fall off the radar, as perpetrators could no longer claim an alibi when their device was continuously pinpointing their time and location. Security agencies would inevitably demand the devices be worn as anti-terrorism measures. It would be win-win-win-win

At the moment, just kids and criminals are electronically tagged, monitored by GPS and bar-coded for identification, but it's just the beginning. The technology is available; it just needs to be applied.

Maybe I've got a bit ahead of myself but I bet the future won't look that much different. Most countries already insist on its citizens or visitors carrying ID cards and have good reasons for doing so. It's only a matter of time before the technology is harnessed to make it easier, speedier and more efficient.

Presumably, only those who are in control won't be tagged and they can do whatever they want. The price for the rest of us is lack of privacy. The future currency will be freedom. But by the time all this happens, our kids will have grown up and will have a completely different sense of what this means.

Given time the "wrist watches" will be small and cool looking. Get Apple to design them. Everyone will want one. And my kids will love them.

(China Daily 01/12/2011 page18)