Rant of the Week: Bag the tag

Governor Carcieri last week vetoed a bill that would prohibit the use of radio frequency locator tags on student backpacks. Advocates of tagging say that keeping track of your kid's whereabouts is a matter of public safety. You'd know whether they got on the bus or not. You'd know where they were in the event of weather disasters, acts of terrorism, criminal activity, field trips or off-campus extracurricular activities. Earlier this year, the Middletown School Department experimented with the technology, dubbed in Big Brother-speak as the "Mobile Accountability Program," or "MAP." More than 90 percent of parents participated. Of course, a backpack isn't the same thing as a body. A student could switch backpacks with someone else, or drop one in a location that would raise no alarms, while he or she went off to - Zeus preserve us - engage in rebellious, anti-social behavior. So after backpacks, what's next? Human implants? MAP also doesn't safeguard students from anyone with access to the school's computer network. In the wrong hands, students could actually be targeted with this technology. But get used to it. In the 21st century, Orwell runs amok. Before long, we'll be tagging criminals, immigrants, employees, scholars, activists, artists, op-ed writers, you name it. Just another waste of money in a state where tracking down anything is simply a matter of knowing a guy who knows a guy.