Has anyone else dealt with these?? They’re NFC, track how long they’re in the bathroom, and where they are. I dont know what company this is through, nor what they are doing with all the data they’re collecting. They also use things called smart passes. I’m thinking about emailing the school district and not allowing them to make my child use them. It seems invasive and creepy. :( If anyone has any advice how to approach this, please let me know. Or knows about them in general. I just don’t trust it. Thank you!!
Also!! Would super appreciate helping me lay out properly communicated points, as I am not a confrontational person, and am very mad. I’m worried I’ll just sound like I’m pitching a fit for no reason. I never want to be that parent that is dreaded by schools. But this is important. Especially due to my more sensitive situation (my children are foster kids)
Edit for FAQ:
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each kid gets an individual digital pass, it records their geolocation, behavioral problems, responses to medical questionnaires, and it can be shared with 3rd parties according to their privacy policy. (Students are considered “customers”)
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I’m from the US.
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they are supposed to wear it all day, every day and check in every place they go with kiosks.
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they are also being limited to 3 bathroom breaks a day… So I guess fuck you if you’ve got heavy periods or IBS. And you can’t go in between classes. Bathrooms will be locked unless it’s an emergency, but you have to have a teacher override the lock. Which isn’t exactly how an emergency works.
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one of my biggest concerns as someone in the US is a school shooter situation where they get access to this system and now they can pinpoint where every kid is and is going. Can prevent stragglers.
Link to article?
You have a lot of sway as a parent over the school systems in the US so I’d throw a fit. Maybe even contact some other parents and get together to all throw a fit about this. One person is easier to ignore. This sounds like a complete and total invasion of privacy to the point its mentally conditioning your kid to accept just being monitored by the government 24/7 as an adult. I wouldn’t accept it.
I just hope I’m able to pass on even a bit of my absolute seething hatred for anything that compromises privacy. Wheww it gets me going and I am not an angry person generally, but especially when it comes to my kids, it’s unacceptable.
Honestly kids understand a lot more than people give them credit for. I think if you just explained it to them in plain english they’d get it.
Omg sorry for the essay. 😭
I absolutely have! Also they are both young teens. Problem IS, bad practices have already been the norm for them. They have learned that giving all your data away willingly means nothing. That privacy means nothing. And I myself do sometimes get despair and hopeless about privacy. Because it IS hard. But I have explicitly talked to them about privacy protections they can do, how to navigate the privacy settings in various social media apps (I hate them, but it’s honestly inevitable, so I’d rather they know how to limit their exposure), WHY privacy is important, why flock cameras are bad for everyone, basic password security and management, etc etc. I absolutely believe children understand things. I hate when people talk down to even very young children. (Dont get me started on young kid’s shows ugh) You obviously have to change the vocabulary and scope, but starting them with simple practices is great.
I have no desire to have a very young child, the situation I’m in is very much a instance of circumstances just being what they are lol. So I do try to instill in the parents around me that this is an active practice they should.be teaching from a young age, and practicing themselves. But I do try to make it as seamless as possible for them. Because they already have enough on their plates. And it’s all about risk management and doing a privacy assessment.
I don’t expect people to go as hard as I have, completely de-googling where I can (fucking monopoly), changing my OS both on pc and phone, deleting all socials, etc.
honestly what you’ve done is what I did too and its not that big of a deal imo. Once you adjust to it. I’d challenge your kids to like take a “cleanse” from social media for example as a family. Maybe go on a camping trip and use 0 tech the entire time. See how they like it. Sometimes people don’t even realize how tech changes their lives until they have a moment away from it.
I would say that depends on how entrenched you were with it, and how your family/friends react. I went from constant use of everything to nothing. Changing everything over was a PITA, email and password-wise. Like ultimately once it was done, it’s not hard to keep up. But the initial switch can be daunting. Tbh I also have executive dysfunction so even small tasks sound like hell to me sometimes.
Even better a reason to show your kids early they don’t have to do it to begin with.
If this was the UK or EU you’d have strong grounds to refuse under GDPR. Do you have any similar protections wherever you are?
Lol. I’m not even in Cali where there’s a bit more privacy. :(( so no, not at all.
limiting bathroom breaks is child abuse
I agree. And to 3 a day is insane.
It doesn’t really help, but every Little Free Library around would suddenly have a copy or three of Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, and all my kids friends would get a copy directly.
Ohh I’ll have to check this book out. Unfortunately with the high use of computers in schools nowadays, getting the kids to read books is like pulling teeth. Which is something I’m also against, but not nearly as mad as I am about this. It makes me sick that they’re just OK with this, and didnt ask fucking permission.
How old are these “kids”? People use that to mean anything from 6 year olds to 17 year olds, which is not the same. The main problem though, is kids being treated as less than people, and the property of others (usually their parents, but sometimes the school or government). If children had more legal rights in general, they wouldn’t require the luck of having a decent parent like you to fight on their behalf - what about all the other students?
They’re middle schoolers, so 11-14. (oh, also they say they use COPPA when it comes to data for kids UNDER 13, so any kid above that? Whatever IG). Yeah. I’m so pissed, for everyone. I am coming at it mainly for my child, but I intend to lay out all my points against its usage AT ALL. I am really nervous about this, as I am a non confrontational person in general. But this actually has me seething. I am afraid I am going to not be able to express my point well.
restricting phones in school would reduce time spent in bathrooms
and it would improve student privacy
That will just encourage students to store phones up their butt
You tell them you will absolutely not allow this. You simply do not agree to the terms of service, so you won’t be doing it. End discussion.
And if they try and limit bathroom breaks, they can expect a letter from your lawyer. Ask for a key for your kid.
**demand a key
They’re like magnetic locks or some shit.
WTF? Individual trackers? It would be creepy with temporary ones, but defensible. But full on tracking all the time?
Yep. They’re expected to wear if on a lanyard at all times and check in to every place they go with “kiosks”
One idea for the bathrooms, is getting a doctor that knows your kids the most (most commonly that would be a family doctor, but if a kid has a reason to have a specialized doctor then go to that one) to get a signed letter that tells the school to give the kid(s) unrestricted access to the bathroom. Then give that to the school and the school basically has to do what the doctor says (because you or the doctor could put up a fight if they don’t).
Kids could also make the data useless by checking in to multiple places, or leaving it somewhere in the school (for example).
Sounds like it’s time for those bathroom locks to have an accident.
Limiting bathroom access can have health consequences.
Went to high school in Germany. There were no hall passes.
Oh the horror!
I’m working on German citizenship (by ancestry). I yearn for public transport.
I was in Berlin in the 80’s and the public transportation system was the best. Everything ran on time and generally often. When I returned to visit many years later I was very disappointed to find out it has been enshitified. I mean, it still works and coming from Florida where it’s practically zero, it’s great, but yeah, it’s changed in a way that really surprised me because it almost goes against the rule following nature of Germans.
I yearn for public transport.
Do not go for Germany then! Their public transport is notoriously bad
I was there for an extended period and its leagues better than nothing lol. Plus it’s the only EU country where I have a path to citizenship
compared to many other places in the world, German public transport is absolutely fine
Compared to most other western and northern European countries they are shit though.
I mean the infrastructure is there, but it’s never on time, sometimes just doesn’t drive at all, driving by car is usually cheaper and faster, the people are absolutely disgusting and so on. You are basically paying more just to have an unreliable and disgusting alternative. I’d love to use it more, but I don’t, I still just drive by car, it might as well not be there in the first place.
Seems a privacy concern in an active sh-r incident tbh. They just snoop with a radio sniffer, eep.
And what’ll they do if you give the kid a faraday bag? For safety.
Its supposed to stay on a lanyard
Gotta make sure to teach kids early that they have no expectation of privacy no matter where they go and that their every movement and behaviour is tracked. No way in hell would I permit any child of mine to be tracked like that.
The entire situation sounds absolutely bonkers, are schools really that fucking draconian that they lock the bathrooms between classes?? Like that’s when you’re supposed to go so you don’t leave during class and cause a disruption. Shit I had teachers tell me to wait until the next break!
Also limited bathroom breaks is absurd but also gotta train those future proles early so they don’t get any ideas like “I should be able to go to the bathroom when I need to throughout the day”
They’re 100% selling the children’s info to any buyer they can
I remember the shitstorm when my middle school introduced ID lanyards that the kids were supposed to wear, but those didn’t have any kind of tracking
