Saudi pro-tech lunacy

[Aimless]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...b0b7b8211b.141

Not really much to discuss perhaps... Saudi Arabia is a strange place

[Aimless]

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2...goes-to-court/

[Dreadnaught]

Her family had protested the district's RFID policy on First Amendment and civil liberties grounds, claiming that the requirement to wear a tracking badge and its barcode violated her religious freedoms. The tagging resembled the "mark of the beast," as Hernandez and her father told Info Wars in an interview on October 3.

Okay, I didn't see that one coming.

The Saudi thing is obviously fucked. But how do you feel about the school tracking thing? I can't decide if it's creepy or just a reasonably legit way to take attendance (they make RFID chip sound so nefarious -- it's a ID badge like the one most corporate workers use, right?).

[Wraith]

The school had offered a compromise—a badge without an RFID chip. But when the Hernandez family declined ...

[Veldan Rath]

Uh-huh...an ID badge...violates their religion...sigh

[Flixy]

The Saudi thing is obviously fucked. But how do you feel about the school tracking thing? I can't decide if it's creepy or just a reasonably legit way to take attendance (they make RFID chip sound so nefarious -- it's a ID badge like the one most corporate workers use, right?).

That depends whether it's active or passive RFID tags - the sources aren't clear which one is used, and the manufacturer website only says both options are available.

Passive I definitely don't have a problem with (and is what I also have at my uni, and for my work, etc). You 'check in' at every class then, so it's pretty much like a roll call except electronic and more efficient. And it can also be used for access to certain buildings, e.g. all doors on campus here that aren't open for everyone use the standard student/staff pass with an RFID chip in it. So my pass gives access to this building, the secure bicycle shed, and it is also used at the sports center and library.

OTOH the articles seem to imply active RFID tags, e.g. with a battery and transmitting data. That's a bit more tricky - while I suppose a school can know where their students are on their own property (besides, they already have security cameras anyway), you also have to carry it from and to school, and it can quite easily be tracked. And the websites mention it's not encrypted, secure, etc., because it only contains an ID number, but it's not exactly hard to figure out what ID number corresponds to which student. This is also not the kind of tag that any corporation I know uses.

So, especially for colleges, I would oppose the active RFID tags. The students are adults, aside from knowing whether or not someone is attending their classes I don't see how it's anyone's business where exactly they are. As for funding based on roll calls, you could have a check in at the entrance and check out when you leave, though that only works on a campus with actual entrances/exits. Or you could simply require it to enter any building, but then you have the problem if someone keeps the door open for you and you don't check in. Using it for attendance at classes is very simple, just a more efficient way of a normal roll call, but then you still don't solve the problem of students working in the library/cafetaria/etc.

For schools it may be a little different, since the students are minors and the school also has a responsibility of knowing where they are, so I can see an argument for active tags there. But then you do have the issue that students can be accurately tagged when they leave school and still have their tag with them. So it is a little more nefarious than an ID badge most companies use.

[RandBlade]

On the school thing if the tag works like a GPS and tracks wherever you are then I think that's wrong. If OTOH its secure (which it doesn't seem to be) and only activates when you step into the classroom then I don't see a problem with that.

I don't understand why an RFID-free tag would be unacceptable to them though and "mark of the beast" is just a bit

[Flixy]

Active RFID would work like a GPS, except, you know, work indoors As I understand it, it sends out a signal which is triangulated by wifi. And if you can activate it on school, you can activate it outside school too.

[Steely Glint]

Who knew that Revelation was just about this one high school in Texas?

[Dreadnaught]

Not to mention that gay couple that moved into the house down the block from them. It was specifically about them.

[Veldan Rath]

Not to mention that gay couple that moved into the house down the block from them. It was specifically about them.

Huh? Did I miss something?

[Dreadnaught]

Joke.

[Flixy]

Sorry,I missed the joke too

[Dreadnaught]

I was making fun of people who see "the devil" in every little thing, EG the badges at school, the gays down the street, etc...

[Veldan Rath]

Ah, carry on.