Schools: Where Fewer Rights are Reasonable? Why the Reasonableness Standard is Inappropriate to Measure the Use of RFID Tracking Devices on Students, 28 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 411 (2011)

Authors

Alexandra C. Hirsch

Citations to This Work

• Stefan P. Schropp, Biometric Data Collection And RFID Tracking In Schools: A Reasoned Approach To Reasonable Expectations Of Privacy, 94 N.C.L. Rev. 1068 (2016)

Abstract

In an unsuccessful attempt to heighten security, schools are implementing a technology that offers access to children’s personal information and minute-by-minute location. Although not entirely new, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology use has recently been expanding within the school arena. Skeptics knowledgeable about the downfalls of the technology, however, have reason to be concerned. In order to understand the true urgency of this issue, this comment will explain the background of RFID technology, specifically what RFID tags are, how they are used, their purposes, and how they have become unsafe. Included will be an explanation of the reasons that schools have implemented RFID technology as a safety precaution. This paper will detail the progression of the constitutional right against unreasonable search and seizure, beginning with the Fourth Amendment’s original, explicit language to its current application for students in schools. Finally, this comment will argue that requiring children to wear RFID tags while on school grounds infringes upon their Fourth Amendment right from unreasonable search and seizure, and that Courts should readopt the probable cause standard as the appropriate standard to be applied to the use of RFID technology in schools.

Recommended Citation

Alexandra C. Hirsch, Schools: Where Fewer Rights are Reasonable? Why the Reasonableness Standard is Inappropriate to Measure the Use of RFID Tracking Devices on Students, 28 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 411 (2011)