Child abduction is rare but the idea of it would haunt any parent. Is electronic tagging a step too far to keep children safe? Anne Dempsey reports
The traditional admonition not to take sweets from strangers may seem quaintly naive today when the hazards can be much nearer home. However stranger danger does still exist and high-profile murder child cases feed concern about child safety. Should we consider electronically tagging our children to facilitate tracing if they go missing, or is this a step too far?
Dr Paul Stokes, who specialises in social cybernetics in UCD's School of Sociology, says: "The mobile phone is our current version of tagging. Parents seek to protect children by buying them one, and agreeing that it be switched on when away from home.
"A global planetary system by mobile phone where someone can be tracked to within several metres is available in the UK. A subscription service, it works by adding a layer of software to each mobile phone cell antennae, thus triangulating them. I expect such a service would be available here within a year."
His colleague, Paddy Nixon, professor of distributive systems at UCD's School of Computer Science & Informatics, says that all mobile phones in the US are to be fitted with GPS chips which can be activated as tracers for emergency purposes. "Technology only works in a broader social context. It can do some wonderful things used in the right way, but there are huge civil liberties issues and, of course, it is open to abuse.
Stokes agrees: "The ethical considerations have to do with invasion of privacy and human rights. If our whereabouts can be known at any given time, to whom is that information made available? Will the authorities respect people's right to privacy, autonomy and non-invasiveness? As a society we need to be acutely aware of the dilemmas and choices technology imposes, particularly as legislation always lags far behind such developments."
There are unconfirmed reports that Chelsea Clinton was electronically tagged during the 1990s and that Prince William is currently fitted with a subcutaneous tracking device. Then there's the GPS Personal Locator, a watch children can wear to determine their location within minutes. It combines patented technology with the US Department of Defence's multi-billion dollar satellites, plus a massive digital nationwide wireless network. Endorsed by Oprah Winfrey, it is marketed on www.childlocator.com and www.familycow.com.
Children caught up in inter-country custody battles with risk of parental abduction may seem prime candidates for surveillance. But Mary Banotti, founder of the Irish Centre of Parentally Abducted Children reacts unenthusiastically.
"The idea gives me the creeps. I would have serious concerns of the effect on children themselves. I would hate to think tagging replaced parental care - parents knowing where their children are, being responsible for them."
However, having recently returned from a European conference child abduction, Banotti wonders if fail-safe child protection is possible. "I met several parents where the cases of abduction were random and bizarre. One mother turned her back for a moment in a shopping centre and an opportunistic murderer grabbed her child. I was in tears listening to another mother briefly separated from her little daughter. Someone was obviously lurking, and the girl has never been found. What kind of society response is needed to such situations?" she asks.
It is precisely such gruesome stories that spur parents to extreme measures. In the wake of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman murders in Soham, Cambridgeshire, some UK parents wanted to have children implanted with a microchip which sends a signal via a mobile phone to a tracking computer. This is designed by Professor Kevin Warwick of Reading University, and he had "hundreds of calls" post-Soham. Such tagging is not yet generally available, though Warwick is currently using himself as a guinea pig to test tiny microchip implants in his own body, enabling interaction with his technological environment. It could be the way of the future.
Meanwhile, many Irish parents also feel vulnerable about child safety. The McGettigan family with four children aged from nine, eight, five and three months, live in Dublin 4. "Tagging children is something I would objectively disapprove of, and at first I thought it over the top, but the three words 'Holly and Jessica' would have me buy into the idea without much hesitation," says Ciara McGettigan.
"The idea of your child being kidnapped is a parent's worst nightmare so the concept of a small benign device under the skin may offer a sense of comfort and security, as well as tracking the child. Its existence could also act as a deterrent, scaring off potential predators. My only concern would be a proliferation of such micro-chipping for different reasons adding to the reality of a nanny state. Any scheme would have to introduced with careful thought to prevent unforeseen negative consequences. It should also be reversible at an age-appropriate time in consultation with your child. As a parent of four small children who mean the world to us, I believe we would definitely participate in such a scheme when it becomes available here. Obviously it should never become mandatory," she adds, "but should remain a personal choice."
