Hey, I totally agree with you about not wanting government to take over parenting, but I'm sorry, they've done a hell of a lot more conditioning of kids just by being in public schools. Me, I'm a homeschool advocate, or at least a biblically-based private religious school. They get a lot more patriotism and real American history there than just about any typical public school, without being forced to take homosexual questionnaires they want to hide from parents.
And don't get me wrong, I do understand your concern here. I'm just saying several things here: I am all in favor of conscientious parents trying to nip their kids' patterns of lying to them in the bud because as parents they know this is not a good habit for their kid to have (Bill Clinton come to mind here?). If technology can help concerned parents nix this behavior and get the kid to recognize lying is wrong and mom and dad aren't mindless idiots who'll just believe anything she says, I think it's a valuable life lesson.
Like i said before, not every advance in surveillance is a bad thing. Surveillance technology, like any technology, is neutral - the intent of the user determines whether it's good or bad. Ultrasounds help doctors identify defects nad correct some of them before a baby is even born. In an abortionists' hands, it helps them rip apart an unwanted baby more efficiently.
I'm not nearly as worried parents (at least these parents) are going to abuse or scar their kids as much as I am worried that government (schools, etc) are desensitizing kids to surveillance or tracking. There is a huge difference in scope and control.
Just as you pointed out, parents can't control their kids. Once they're out of the house, they can pretty much do what they want. This wasn't even an example of real-time surveillance. But government schools and such track times kids come in and leave, where they go, what visitors come into the school, and more. It is still true today that parents can't control their kids, even with a recording device such as this. There are so many ways she could have gotten around this it's not funny. With a government-implanted chip or a government device on your car, how do you get around that?
I think the larger issue you're worried about is that kids aren't being taught what the limits of authority govt has. We can tell govt to stuff it. Schools don't teach it. The solution in my opinion is to get kids out of the govt schools and into schools that teach limited govt and that freedom requires eternal vigilance. I guess I just don't see parents using a new device to help teach their daughter an important life lesson about lying as automatically being the same as government-mandated tracking and surveillance.