Leader: Tagging kids

This publication and doubtless a number of others in the mainstream press have today covered a primary school in Swansea looking to electronically tag its pupils. A similar move was taken last year by a Japanese school.

In the UK, today's news follows a similar recent story about a school in Loughborough using biometric fingerprint readers to check pupils in and out.

The educational establishments cite safety as an over-riding reason to keep track of where their students wander. The same argument has been made by owners of public attractions such as Legoland, ostensibly to cater to parents with young children - though cynics would point to the tactic as a way to monitor the way facilities are used and better market attractions as a result.

There are two things going on here which we should take very seriously. The first is the issue of privacy and responsibility. Sun CEO Scott McNealy has famously asked in the past whether his electronically tagging his dog but not his sons means he loves his dog more than his children. After all, children don't have the same rights as adults and their safety generally comes above most other matters.

We take that point. However, a major objection to children being tagged shouldn't necessarily be on the grounds of privacy, unless of course records such as biometric readings are held for life, for all sorts of unrelated, invasive reasons.

Rather there have been past studies which show constantly monitored children develop differently to those who learn they must look after themselves in certain ways as they get older. The child that hits the age of 16 without ever having to worry about getting lost may end up in trouble come the day that radio signal stops and they're on their own, the argument goes.

The second important point here is an even larger one. With 'war on terror' zeal, governments in much of the world are moving increasingly to a surveillance society. We see this with national databases, ID cards and - where the argument is generally one of crime reduction - CCTV.

Few would argue with any system that catches a terrorist or stops more graffiti or a mugging on your average high street but there is a trade-off. We have for some time now had to balance the privacy rights of the individual against the well-being of wider society. There isn't an easy answer to the question. Clearly the most grown up approach is to foster an educated, responsible population - including children - that doesn't need lots of laws and surveillance to stop them acting in ways accepted as unacceptable.

But the trend right now is only going in one direction. Expect lots more headmasters to sidle up to technology as a way to keep the kids in line.