New Jersey School Forces Students to Carry GPS-Enabled Cell Phones
While slightly less creepy than the idea of GPS-equipped school uniforms, the latest mandate by Montclair State University in New Jersey is bound to ruffle the feathers of some students. The new rule stipulates that studentsmust own and carry school-distributed cell phones with GPS.
The idea behind the mandate is that the phones are designed with student safety in mind. If, for example, someone is following a student, or threatening them, then a beacon on the cell phone can be set to go off for a predetermined period of time. If, at the end of that period, the student has not disabled the alarm, then campus security can use Google Maps to locate the student (thanks to the required-cell-phone's on-board GPS) and inform the local authorities. The service is even available when off-campus, whether the student is merely somewhere in town, or home for the holidays.
The phones are all automatically registered with the campus alert system as well, notifying students via text message of any situations that may arise, be they canceled classes due to weather, power outages, or, God forbid, a shooting like the one at Virginia Tech.
Not all of the features on the phones designed by Rave Wireless and Sprint are aimed at tracking students, however. The phones also can be loaded up with podcasts of lectures, notes, and even digital flash card study aides. Of course, the phones also acts as, well, phones, allowing student to place calls and send text messages,
So far, all calls into the police department to respond to student GPS beacons have been false alarms, but a staff of security still monitors the signals 24/7 just in case the system ever proves necessary.
From AP on AOL Video
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Lauren @ Dec 4th 2007 8:45PM
I went to this school and remember they were allowing students to use the phones free of charge to test the system. Very innovative!
spydrworks1067 @ Dec 5th 2007 3:10AM
Innovative? To FORCE students, college students or otherwise to have a GPS capable phone is obsurd!! It is an infringement of the student's constitutional rights. What did they do to have to be tagged and followed by administration and who knows who else? Screw that. If anything, it should be optional rather than forced.
Hardr @ Dec 5th 2007 7:50AM
Spydrworks - saying that this is an infringement on a student's constitutional rights is absurd. What you're forgetting here is that college is a priviledge. No one is forcing these kids to go to college, no one is forcing them to choose to go to Montclair State. It's not embedded under their skin; it's an accessory. They aren't restricting movement, or speech. Paranoia is a dangerous thing, no one is after these kids.
If these were government mandated GPS for all citizens I'd agree with you... this is no where near that.
SkiMonkey @ Dec 5th 2007 9:50AM
After Virginia Tech, everyone was saying "why didn't the school do more to protect students?" Here is a school that IS trying to do more and the press calls them "creepy". Note: it's illegal to track the students without their consent -- the only time they can legally be tracked is when they activate an alarm saying "I need help". Programs like this can not be used for spying on the students as the author implies.
It's a safety program, I don't understand why people are so suspicious of it.
Otto R. Graepel @ Dec 5th 2007 10:45AM
Now that an issue has been raised, you have alerted those who are a threat to these students what to do in order to disable the effectiveness of the device! The Communists said a long time ago, don't fear the Capitalist Nations as they will eventially destroy themselves! Our freedom and the right to know have us headed down the path of destruction!
J. Mariano @ Dec 5th 2007 10:50AM
ANOTHER Stupid idea by a NJ School...Mandating that students carry cell phones for so-called "protection"...It seems more like Big Brother and the Police State closing their net tighter around more citizens so they can more easily be tracked...
And WHO is going to pay for this!?!?!...
Obviously...it will be the responsibility of the NJ taxpayer...or raised college tuition...or BOTH...
But, at the bottom line, the college will pass the cost of this experiment on to the taxpaying citizens one way or the other...
Is it any wonder that the NJ School System is one of the most expensive systems in the country...Inefficiently run,a system of tenure that protects incompetent educators, over staffed at the Board and Management ends, and prone to stupid ideas that cost more than they are worth...And this idiotic scheme is just another !!!
Why don't the schools of NJ focus on what SHOULD be their Primary Objective...Effective Education of their students...!!!...
jim k @ Dec 5th 2007 10:53AM
Skimonkey and others who don't live in New Jersey.
The students have to activate the alarm, that is not the same as saying the tracking feature is off when the alarm is not activated. Montclair is a state university supported by New Jerey taxpayers. A state whose government never ceases to find ways to spend money it does not have. This state owes way more than its projected revenues for decades to come, yet compels students to have a particular phone service. Does letting that contract sound fishy to you?
The only thing that does surprise me is that the state does not require all New Jerseyans to have the same phones. Welcome to the quintesential nanny state!
Dan @ Dec 5th 2007 11:08AM
And to think... my cheap ass school forced me to use those silly little blue books for Essay Question test.
Dang
ascatal @ Dec 5th 2007 11:39AM
Inovative perhaps, but unfair definately, to force the students to use only the cellphones they distribute, to me it ringsof possible kick backs to the school from what ever cell phone company is providing the service for said phones, the students should be allowed to use what ever phones they wish provided they are gps enabled so everyone wins
Meera @ Mar 18th 2008 9:25PM
the kids of nj are the SMARTEST in the country.. we have the best schools and were the richest.. 4 of the richest counties in the USA are in JERSEYYY BABYY!!! so f*** all you haterss.. thank you very much
shovan @ Mar 24th 2008 9:15PM
Well I think its a good idea. Think about it how many students a year goes missing. The highest rate of rapes are among freshman females. If people know that at a touch of a button someone will come then in theory crimes should be deterred until someone figures a way around it like they do everthing else. The smartest people in the world are teenagers trying to avoid being caught.