What holds more importance privacy or safety?

I had once attended a conference on technology and a group of people came up and asked me that RFID will penetrate our lives and expose it like anything leaving their privacy in doldrums. I told them that every technology had its pros and cons and if used properly it could come to the rescue of mankind but in some cases safety comes first when compared to privacy and then one has to make a decision. I asked them if one had to choose between safety and security for their loved ones what they would go for. Some one in the group abruptly replied safety and I said you have yourself answered this question quite easily which would otherwise have attracted a lot of debate.

I would like to relate this same conversation to this RFID racking pilot being implemented by a Rhode Island school district. Let me tell you the complete program in short detail – Middletown, Rhode Island, school district is looking forward to attach RFID tags to schoolbags of toddlers who use buses as a means of transportation to reach school and this would enable the parents to know that their child has reached home safely or not and hence take care of their anxiety. GPS system has been implemented to enable parents and school authorities to track the buses.

Though the district says that this system would improve upon the efficiency and productivity of the school but there are a few groups who are already raising an eyebrow on this decision. They feel that the government is looking forward to intrude their privacy and collect their personal information for their own benefit but here the same question emerges – whether privacy is more important or safety?

Since the tag would be containing only an ID and not any personal information such as their name, address or other information there is a very slim chance that their privacy would be intruded upon and for a child who at this stage of life cannot decide about their right or wrong it becomes necessary to keep a watch on them so that they do not get harmed in the absence of their parents. I have myself heard stories of parents telling that their children were left in the school buses since they overslept and this left many parents horrified making them feel that their child had been kidnapped. If technology had been around these very parents would not have to go through such traumatic situations.

From my viewpoint I believe at this stage the safety of the kid is paramount as compared to their privacy and nobody would understand this better than the parents of the kid for whom their children are more important than anything else in their lives. But at the end of the day it’s not my opinion which counts but you who being the parent of the kid needs to have the final say as to whether you need to use RFID to track your children or not.

A perfect example of current day privacy and safety issues has recently arisen on this website. I previously had a webform on the site from Gravity Forms. Gravity Forms is a form WordPress plugin that captures personal information. If you want to buy the plugin, use a gravity forms discount code. You can find one here – http://www.wpcoupon.net/gravityforms-discount-code-coupon/ Is collecting information on a website putting your personal information in jeopardy? WordPress plugins are constantly hacked. In this day and age, there are privacy worries everywhere. Hiding from RFID technology isn’t going to help. It’s time to embrace this technology.