Comment by anigbrowl | Hacker News Reader

Comment by anigbrowl | Hacker News Reader

Russia Today is an unreliable source to start with, and quoting worldNet Daily - famous mainly for conspiracy theories about Obama not being a Us citizen and for having a political opinion column by Chuck Norris - renders the story even less credible. Besides, even if it is all absolutely legit...

Hernandez said in an interview with Salon that subjecting herself to constant monitoring through an RFID chip is like being branded with the “mark of the beast” – a reference to the Bible's apocalyptic Book of Revelations.

...why should I give a hoot about people with such crackpot religious beliefs? We pander enough to this sort of nonsense already, and if the student finds it that objectionable maybe she should go to a private school instead. I am not a fan of the surveillance society, but given the staggeringly high truancy, dropout and incidence of gun crime on American high school campuses, trackable student IDs are low on the list of things to worry about.

is like being branded with the “mark of the beast”

Actually, if I were in Texas, I would absolutely take that approach. There are enough highly-conservative Christians in the state that this approach might garner some support against the evil government wanting to "mark our children".

A little investigation shows the story is real. http://www.aclutx.org/blog/?cat=21

Argue your privacy and Texas will just laugh at you.

Argue mark of the beast and you have a large portion of the state support you.

I instantly question hardcore when I see the story is from RT, personally.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/09/rfid-chip-student-m...

As a Texan, I think it is ridiculous to spend millions on a technology "solution" just to get more funding. Why would you want kids in class that don't want to be there? Money would be better spent on actually educating the kids that do attend than tracking kids that don't.

>...why should I give a hoot about people with such crackpot religious beliefs? We pander enough to this sort of nonsense already, and if the student finds it that objectionable maybe she should go to a private school instead.

Seriously? People with religious beliefs you don't agree with aren't entitled to privacy? And if they disagree with the policies they should spend tens of thousands of dollars on a private school?

There's a diminished expectation of privacy on a school campus. I might be sympathetic if the student were arguing for a greater degree of privacy, but arguing that the school is trying to brand her with the mark of the beast is bullshit. That kind of irrationality was long held up as an excuse to torture and abuse people who didn't subscribe to it, so I have no sympathy when it's played as a victim card. There are many religious schools and homeschooling options available for people who are determined to follow ultra-orthodox beliefs.

Other sources:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/education/article/Students-...

http://news.yahoo.com/san-antonio-school-district-track-stud...

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