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Articles labeled: tracking systems


Kid safety goes high-tech

Posted September 9th, 2007 by minortopics | via www.chicagotribune.com

I am so going to make my kid’s life miserable with this:

Of course, these gadgets can’t really ensure safety, but they can offer parents help if their child gets into trouble. The satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS) that helps drivers navigate unfamiliar roads also is used to help parents keep track of children. With cell phones such as the Wherifone GPS Locator Phone or tracking tags such as the GemTrack GPS Personal Locator System, parents can make a phone call or log on to a password-protected Web site for their child’s location. These systems may deliver options such as a panic button kids can push that will relay an SOS to a preset phone number or e-mail, a remote audio monitoring system so parents can hear what’s going on near the device and a log of where the device has been that day.

And when he’s a teenager, I am so going to solidify my neurosis with this:

There are also trackers that can be hidden in the family car, such as the Travel Eyes 2. Radio-frequency identification (RFID), the technology used in the Illinois tollway I-PASS collection system, uses radio waves to transmit a unique ID number that can be picked up on a nearby receiver.

And this? It makes me downright giddy!:

RFID tags, like the ones in the Locator Plus Pack With Distance Alert, can be pinned to clothing or put in backpacks, giving parents a way to keep track of as many as 24 kids within 600 feet; and an alarm sounds when children step outside of a preset safety zone.

Anyone else out there prepared to use technology to keep an watchful eye on their kids? Can it go too far?

I say you just can’t be too safe. Allow them freedom, under the privilege of safety.

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