StudentConnect are providing RFID and GPS in school buses in the Gordon County School District, Georgia, USA to monitor students travel movements.
Apparently Andrej Jeremic, Director of Marketing and Business Development at East Coast Diversified the company that owns StudentConnect, stated that their system using RFID and GPS, “is not a tracking device” “…it is a notification system”.
Yes Andrej, it is a notification system that notifies you of students tracks traveling on school buses (face palm!)
Even his own website states in the document ‘StudentConnect Market Research’ it states “Parents can track all of their children’s activities”
Oddly enough, this ‘StudentConnect Market Research‘ document is research that another employee Kayode Aladesuyi, East Coast Diversified’s Chairman and Chief Officer, claims is an “independent research study” showing that 96% of parents would support a safety program that requires students to wear an auto ID badge.
There does not appear to be cited within the document any independent research company that carried out the survey. The survey deployed 13,573 surveys with only 958 returned – that’s only 7% of people asked bothered to reply – perhaps the replies were from people who were positive about the technology?
Sadly, apart from children’s privacy and civil liberties being eroded, there seems an air of shabbiness along with a distinct hint of desperateness to sell us this type of tracking by remote ubiquitous technology that involves a lack of integrity and transparency.
Against RFID in schools 