testing
EYEBALL SCANNING FOR KIDS' SAFETY
A growing number of schools are replacing traditional identification cards with iris scanners. Winthrop University in South Carolina is testing out iris scanning technology during freshman orientation this summer. In June, students had their eyes scanned as they received their ID cards. The college will be deploying scanning technology from New Jersey-based security company Iris ID. "Iris scanning has a very high level of accuracy, and you don't have to touch anything," said James Hammond, head of Winthrop University's Information Technology department, CNN reports. "It can be hands free security."
"Imagine a world where you're no longer reliant on user names and passwords," Anthony Antolino, CMO of Eyelock – another iris scanning company, told CNNMoney. "If we're going through a turnstile and you have authorization to go beyond that, it'll open the turnstile for you, if you embed it into a tablet or PC, it will unlock your phone or your tablet or it will log you into your email account."
In an attempt to ease the concerns expressed by privacy advocates, iris scanning companies say all the data they collect is encrypted and owned by the individual businesses that employs the technology and not the tech company itself.
On one hand it makes sense, I suppose. But on the other hand, it just seems like we're losing our privacy little by little. The more our identity lives in databases, the more people have access to it. My son will never know the amount of privacy we had growing up. So much for skipping a class and heading down to the lake for a swim. The school, the police and I will know where he is at all times. Good for me, bad for him.
Comments
IT'S NOT DEFIANCE, THE TESTING IS HEALTHY
At 2 years old, Conor is in full swing of testing Valerie and me. Just last night, I told him to stop jumping up the stairs so he wouldn’t accidently fall. He jumped up the next stair and looked back, grinning. I repeated my request and it triggered him to jump up the next step and turn around, grinning. I wondered if I should put him in a timeout for disobeying or pick him up and get him out of the ‘hot’ area.
According to Susanne Ayers Denham, a developmental psychologist, kids aren’t being defiant when they ‘test’ us. She points out that toddlers are trying to grapple with the rules of the family. They’re still trying to figure out if you need to be there to correct them each time and how they can ‘own’ the rule so they follow it even when you’re not there.
When you figure that this ‘testing’ coincides with their increasing need to be independent, it’s hard to read when a child needs to be reprimanded and when a child needs some room to learn and grow. I find this line increasingly blurry and need a constant dose of psychologists to remind me that my amazing son is following human instincts and isn’t just trying to be a pain in the ass on any given day. So thank you, Susanne, for your help today.