It seems that GPS trackers are an item of controversy. People have been talking about implanting these devices in children, letting parents know where their children are 24/7.
The benefits of such a practice are clear. If you child was lost or stolen it would be a simple matter of tracking the GPS signal to where they are. However this is not necessarily fool-proof. As horrible as it sounds, if the child was stolen the chip could be removed, a painful and traumatizing experience, that would only add to the terror of being abducted in the first place. The downsides however seem to outweigh the bennifits in my opinion. The tracker signal could be followed by people that you would not want tracking your child. It would be all to easy to track down and harm a child with this information. In addition to this, third parties could use the information of where these children go, how many go, and how often. This information could then be sold to a marketing company. For example a toy company could see where kids went to buy toys, therfore finding the best locations to sell toys. While this would be a huge help for the company, I feel it infringes on the privacy rights of these children.
Privacy once these children grow up would be another huge issue. No teenager, college student or adult wants their whereabouts tracked constantly. The alternative would be having chips removed once you have reached a certain age, but at what age? And what if a family couldn't afford the procedure to get the chip removed, would it become something the government would pay for? Something to add to our already growing debt?
I think that the GPS shoes are a good alternative, but again could easily be removed. Perhaps some sort of jewelry could be used, similar to the ID bracelets people with medical conditions wear.
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