NEWS
Better parenting skills are the key to keeping children safe, not gadgets that kids will easily be able to disable, according to silicon.com readers.
The launch of a mobile phone for kids which will allow parents to track their location has left readers unimpressed.
The 3G phone, unveiled by Japanese mobile giant NTT DoCoMo, emails the child's whereabouts to its parents, at configurable intervals between 15 and 60 minutes apart, even if the phone is switched off.
But consultant Charles Smith, clearly a fan of the oblique, said the phone is a "solution looking for a problem" and added: "Some people seem to think that technology can substitute for proper parenting/management. If children/workers are properly raised/motivated there will be no need to think about GPS or RFID tracking of the individuals. The use of such techniques are an admission of parental/management failure. It denotes a primary lack of respect."
And one IT consultant reader agreed: "I hope Japanese parents have enough sense to know that teaching children to be responsible, whilst accepting life always has some risk, is a far better approach."
Others readers questioned how effective the phones would be at tracking kids. "Presumably though, these security features don't guarantee that the phone and child are in the same place? Or, for that matter, that the battery has not run out," said one.
And Roger Huffadine added: "It isn't going to be beyond the whit of children to defeat these phones... and anyone abducting a child will simply locate the device and chuck it in the nearest bin."
One IT manager suggested the UK government might want to take the idea of the nanny state that little bit further: "Don't let our Tony know about this, he will want to add the technology to the ID card!"
Comments
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1. peter e
The device in question is aimed not at your average rebellious teen but at parents of junior school and younger kids.
http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/product/kids_phone/sa800i/index.html
Clearly the press release was timed after recent news and the docomo marketing crimethink department are playing on parents' fears.
Incidentally, at that age, Japanese kids are much better behaved than their British or American counterparts.
2. James Button
Old enough to want to 'mislay' it follows young enough to lose it.
Though there is the benifit of locating it after it's been 'acquired' by somebody else -
That is if you can get the police to do anything within a couple of months.
And do remember that going to get it back yourself will probably get you locked up, and prosecuted by the police and associated authorities for harrassment assault of a minor, illegal search, kidnapping, and/or whatever else they can think of.
Not forgetting that the acquirer and their family/associates will then know the name and address of the phone owner -
so expect a bigger phone bill later.
And that's if you only grab the offender by the hand that has the phone in it.