The Chinese government this week launched what it describes as a voluntary security program in the southern city of Guangzhou by handing out 17,000 free smart watches to elementary school children.
These “Safe Campus Smartwatches” are linked into BeiDou, China’s new version of the GPS tracking system, and monitor the child’s location to within 30 feet at all times.
Parents can use a smartphone app to track the location of their children and will receive emergency alerts if the child triggers that function of the watch.
The watches can also respond automatically to certain conditions, such as sending a warning message if they are submerged underwater, making parents aware that their children may have encountered a water hazard.
Of course, the children and their parents will also be monitored by several agencies of the Communist Chinese government, including the police and the Ministry of Information Technology.