Can You Believe This? NY Schools Spy on Fat Kids

Big Brother wants your kids to lose weight and be healthier.  A school district on Long Island, New York is requiring a group of overweight and obese kids to wear electronic bracelets that monitor where they are and what they’re doing at all times, especially if they’re not active or exercising.

The bracelets count heartbeats, detect motion and even track students’ sleeping habits.  Like Santa Claus in the old song, it knows when you’re sleeping, it knows when you’re awake, it knows if you’ve been bad or good, loafing around or getting physical exercise.

The Bay Shore School District’s athletics chairman says it’s a great tool in fighting the obesity epidemic. “It tells kids, in real time, ‘Am I active? Am I not active?’ We want to give kids the opportunity to become active.”

Wearing the bracelets is not voluntary.  Kids must wear them, and that has some parents and privacy advocates upset.  They say the school is doing this without their knowledge or consent.

An attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union says “When you get into monitoring people’s biological vital signs, that’s a pretty intrusive measurement….There are key privacy interests at play….A program like this should only be voluntary.”

via Polar Active activity monitor for schoolkids raises privacy concerns among parents – NYPOST.com.

We don’t always agree with the ACLU, but they are absolutely right about this.  No one — especially a school district — has any business doing anything that affects your children’s health without your knowledge and written consent.

What do you think?  Are these schools going too far?  At some point, shouldn’t kids’ weight and health be their parents’ responsibility?

Finally, are there some areas of our lives that are none of the government’s business?  Are there no doors left to slam in Big Brother’s face?