Controversial Technologies Enhance Ability to Track Movements of Students, Employees, and Teen Drivers
Mar 31st, 2008 • Posted in: NewsNot surprisingly, some of those being monitored say there’s an ethics issue
NEW YORK and LIVERPOOL, U.K.
Tracking technologies can produce a variety of practical benefits, but as reported in several stories last week from the world press, they also carry some ethical baggage:
- High-tech fingerprint scanners may be installed at the doors of schools in Liverpool, England, enabling only teachers, pupils, and support staff to enter the buildings. But the Liverpool Echo reports that the proposal is controversial, with some critics saying that the technique, which could be expanded to monitor attendance, is an unacceptable invasion of privacy and would put fingerprints in a database that could be misused in the future.
- Punching the time clock is going high-tech at a variety of businesses, reports Scientific American, but the advancing technology is intersecting with ethical controversy. The newest wrinkle in monitoring employee movement and attendance is the biometric scanner, which gathers and stores information about body parts such as fingers, palms, and eyes, and can be used to monitor access as well as employees’ arrival and departure times. Many employees are beginning to object, according to the report, not only on the ground that such systems are intrusive, but that they are potential germ spreaders because so many people will be forced to stick their hands in the devices.
- Devices to electronically monitor young drivers are a hit with parents and insurance companies, reports the Wall Street Journal, but are receiving a lukewarm reception from teens. One system profiled by the Journal uses video cameras to monitor the inside of a car as well as the view through the windshield. Whenever the car makes an erratic move, the camera transmits a digital recording to a central monitoring station, where the movement is analyzed and a report emailed to parents. A variety of other systems use recording devices or GPS trackers to monitor the movement and speed of young drivers. Not surprisingly, teens often protest the intrusion, and the Journal notes that the head of one of the featured firms acknowledges that almost all of his systems are installed without the teen’s knowledge.
Sources: Wall Street Journal, Mar. 28 — Scientific American, Mar. 28 — Liverpool Echo, Mar. 24.
For more information, see: Related Newsline story, Mar. 24 — Related Newsline story, Mar. 10 — Related Newsline story, Feb. 25 — Related Newsline story, Jan. 28 — Related Newsline story, Jan. 7.
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