Posted on 07/10/2006 1:47:07 PM PDT by Ben Mugged
Paige White was surprised when her parents figured out soon after she started driving last year that she'd gone 9 miles to a party, not 4 miles to the friend's house she'd told them she was visiting. It seemed to her almost as if her car was bugged.
It was.
Paige's parents had installed a device in their daughter's SUV that can tell them not only how far she's driven, but how fast and whether she's made any sudden stops or hard turns.
"I was kind of mad because I felt it was an invasion of my privacy," said the Los Gatos resident, now 17.
Parents, some of whom feel outmatched by their offspring in this tech-savvy world, are using a growing number of gadgets, software and specially equipped cell phones to track kids' driving, read their instant messages and pinpoint where they're hanging out.
~snip~But cyber-snooping is simply a new tool, experts say. It doesn't resolve the dilemma parents have grappled with for generations: How much free rein do you give children so they can learn the lessons they need to grow up and be independent?
~snip~
Proponents of the new technology say it can help protect kids -- whether from predators lurking online or their own bad driving. But while there may be gains, monitoring also can take a toll.
"The bottom line is, surveillance will cut down somewhat on potential risk behavior kids will engage in, but it is at a cost," Wolf said. "To the extent that you do surveillance, you are potentially interfering with your kids developing responsibility for their own lives."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
They don't have a right to privacy in a vehicle they didn't pay for.
Who pays the bills?
Who owns the car gets the right to say what gets installed.
I don't care what the courts say. As a responsible parent, minors should not have any expectation to privacy. I would want to know where they are going, who will they be going with and what time they will get home.
I like the idea of this chip very, very much.
I guess it sure beats actually having conversations with your kid.
Daughter's SUV ? What did she do to earn it ? Amazing, the sense of entitlement today's kids feel, or are allowed to feel.
News flash, Paige. The only privacy you have is the privacy your parents choose to give you. Embrace the horror.
The Ronald Reagan School of Parenting: Trust but verify.
Who paid for the car? Who's paying for the gas? Who's paying for the insurance?
Conversation only goes so far. Some kids just have to find things out the hard way.
Sure, watch their every move, get them really used to being watched at all times, and then in ten years come here and wonder why they all vote for big brother socialism and don't value freedom. Heck, a large percentage of them already think the government ought to have to approve every newspaper article. Ever wonder how that happened?
Los Gatos is the Beverly Hills of the Bay Area. Very upscale. Lots of spoiled kids.
LOL!
Alternatively she could learn to TAKE her privacy back. Find the chip and change the data. Never let the parents suspect their information is compromised or they might actively pay attentions.
The upside of this method is the parents will have a sense of security, the kid will have his/her privacy and freedom and the kid will likely be more employable due to their learning to outsmart the old folks.
My solution is to get a car so crappy that my daughter doesn't dare try to drive it more than a few miles.
I say that in the long run these parents are doing their kids a disservice. Placing bugs in a kids car won't teach them to act responsably when they become an adult
My solution is to get a car so crappy that my daughter doesn't dare try to drive it more than a few miles.
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Won't work. As a teen I take a car on a roadtrip that I wouldn't trust to get me across town today.
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