shocking - Places For People Housing Association to Tag Downs Kids

[Tony Gosling]

May 21, 2007
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1816558.ece

Special needs home tagging

People with learning difficulties such as Down’s syndrome are to be tagged
and monitored by satellite technology in a controversial pilot project.

The plan to electronically tag a group of people with special needs in the
way that criminals are tracked when under curfew has been given a mixed
reception.

Those promoting the plan say that it will increase safety and allow carers
to track their movements without having to accompany them. Critics claim
it smacks of “big brother” and that technology should not be used in place
of proper care.

The scheme is being run by England’s largest housing association. A group
of five vulnerable people in the North East, in homes belonging to Places
for People, will pilot the project. If successful, it could be offered to
others in the association’s 60,000 homes countrywide.

    * Have your say

Dear Sir / Madam,

So we now think it is acceptable to tag children and to track them.

But they're "Downs" and therefore don't have a say.

So that's all right.

Soon, the elderly with dementia. Then, in the wake of recent news,
children considered to be at risk of abduction.
Tags are clumsy and can interfere with clothing, so of course will be
superseded by implants - so much more convenient.

After all, we do it to cattle and criminals, and arguments that such
things are against the basic dignities due to people are, naturally,
"paranoid".

Who was it who said "... in the end, there was no-one left to speak for me"?

Yours sincerely,

Oliver Davies, Harrogate, U.K.

I guess it starts with people who cannot object and when everyone is
tagged, who would dare?


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