Here's a tool for you ultra-paranoid: a GPS watch you can make your kids wear.

Parents can see the location of their child on Google maps by clicking 'where r you' on a secure website or texting 'wru' to a special number. Safe zones can also be programmed with parents being alerted if their child strays outside this zone.

The watch, which is designed in bright colours to appeal to children, can be tightly fastened to a child's wrist and sends an alert if forcibly removed.

Two things to keep in mind before doing this:

1. If you tag kids with monitoring devices, we will be raising a generation of people who don't see a problem with being tagged and tracked. This sets a very dangerous precedent for the future if we are to retain our personal liberties.
2. The company that supplies the information also gets to see where your kid is which creates a new set of problems. Now if someone hacks that company, they have a menu of kids to choose from. Also, since your kid is usually with you at a young age, you're not allowing yourself to be tracked as well. What does the company do with all that data? Would they possibly share or sell it? Could they lose it in a data breach?

I think that this watch could be very useful for high-profile kids like the President's or similar, but for regular kids, proper parenting might be a better defense. After all, it worked for all of us.

Tags: Dangerous Precedents, For Parents, Freedom, GPS, Kidnapping, Physical Security, Police State, Tracking Devices

He's working on a "Cyber-Security Policy" that would give "the government the autority to examine the content of any e-mail, file transfer or Web search". Thanks a bunch MM. (H/T to slashdot for the link) Tags: Big Brother, Freedom