Kid-tracking tech: Japan & UK

A primary school in Osaka will soon be testing a high-tech way of knowing children's whereabouts at all times. RFID (for radio frequency identification) chips will be attached to students' schoolbags or clothing tags and read by readers (like bar-code readers in grocery stores) that will be "installed in school gates and other key locations," UK-based Silicon.com reports. Legoland in Denmark is already using this "Kidspotter" tech. As of last May, children entering the amusement park were given RFID bracelets that could be tracked anywhere within its boundaries, so that parents could be called on their cell phones about their lost child's location, Silicon.com reported in a separate article. Just one caveat: the marketing angle. The chips will also tell Lego exactly where customers go, which will be great for "insightfully targeted marketing campaigns for the perennially popular Lego brick toy sets."

Interestingly, tracking kids by cell phones, on the other hand, has some important detractors in the UK. "A coalition of children's charities has urged the UK government to set strict controls on services that let parents track their children by their mobiles," the BBC reports. The organizations are worried that, as more and more companies market the technology without legal safeguards, the tech can get into the wrong hands. "The onus is on the child to decide whether to accept or reject the request, if it is not from a parent."