Unbelievable

Guess who’s trafficking in this technology

M AINLAND CHINA has demonstrated that it’s capable of shocking the rest of the world with its, uh, “ethical decisions.” This year, some churches and businesses in Red China found out that The Party forbade them from celebrating Christmas. (There’s more of a punishment for putting up tinsel than editing the genes of fetuses still in the womb.) Now, Red China wants to track students. And we don’t mean by credit card usage.

The ChiComs aren’t much on human rights or privacy. They put Muslims into re-education camps and monitor every citizen’s Internet activity. But now the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports some Chinese schools are forcing students to wear “smart uniforms” with GPS tracking chips on them. And here some of us thought that canceling Christmas was unbelievable.

These “smart” school uniforms record the time students enter school and give parents the ability to watch a short video of them doing so (via an app). Skipping class triggers an alarm to alert teachers and parents. The uniforms even tell parents when students are asleep in class. Looks like Ferris Bueller isn’t getting the day off any more. Not in the Middle Kingdom.

So are there any concerns about the consequences of raising a generation of children to expect being watched and monitored every second of every day? Not at all. That’s the difference between a country like China, where communism teaches that everybody works for the state, The Party, the commune—and a country like the United States, sweet land of liberty. Or let’s certainly hope.

Of course, it’s all about the kids. The Party has a good excuse for tracking its people through their very clothing: child safety. After all, only some kind of villain would be against child safety, right?

If this pilot process goes smoothly, and it likely will or else, it won’t be too much of a stretch to see this technology following these kids to their future occupations. After all, when this generation gets used to being tracked to home ec, being tracked to the old job site and back home is only the next step.

The ChiComs already watch and assign citizens a special social credit score based on their finances and behavior. The folks in China may have grown accustomed to this treatment. And if they aren’t, who are they going to tell? There is no First Amendment in China. Making waves there could get a body disappeared.

Before long, the only unmonitored space for Chinese citizens will be in the confines of their noggin. But rest assured, The Party will probably find a way to solve that problem, too. Big Brother loves you. And you love Big Brother.