Ethics #2: SpeechJammer; The Silence Gun

It is time for another discussion in the ethical corner. If you did not read last week's ethics discussion, make sure to check it out here.


The case:
Japanese developers Kazutaka Kurihara and Koji Tsukada have designed and developed the controversial "SpeechJammer". The device enables its user to aim at a specific human target and silence them, whenever they are speaking. It consists of a directional microphone, a directional speaker, a laser, a distance sensor and of course a trigger.
The way it works is that the SpeechJammer picks up the conversation of any subject, processes it and then sends it back to the victim with a delay of about 0.2 seconds.
The delay renders the target unable to focus on what they were saying and as a effect, the target stops talking.


Discussion:
The Japanese developers made it as a means to silence people when they spoke out of turn in debates or at the office, or simply as a means to enforce silence in waiting halls and so on.
Potentially this technology could be used towards more sinister goals, e.g., censoring speakers of different beliefs.

Pros:
The SpeechJammer is a tool to enforce silence towards people, who do not respect regulations on silence in specific areas, (e.g., libraries, hospitals, sleep train cars, etc.) and may be used to shut some people up when speaking out of turn. Some environments would potentially benefit greatly from this invention.

Cons:
Censorship. The liberty of free speech may suffer greatly from a device such as this. The SpeechJammer puts the power of our own words in other people's hands, rendering us powerless when trying to express ourselves. If this technology is further developed, would it find its way to the police weaponry? Would it be used to silence a crowd, a demonstration?

Ethics #1: RFID-tagged Children

First Ethics post is up!
In these special posts we will discuss morality and ethics in certain tech development. This is where we get all personal and want you to partake in a debate about the pros and cons of the posted tech.

Case:
According to the Associated Press, 20.000 pupils across 213 schools in Vitoria da Conquista, Brazil, will be given a school uniform with an RFID-location-chip. The chip sends a text message to their parents, when the child is in the vicinity of the school at the start of the day. If the child fail to get to school at an appropiate time, the parents are again texted about this.
Secretary of Vitoria da Conquista, Coriolano Moraes, explained that the initiative aims to prevent children from skipping class.  “We noticed that many parents would bring their children to school but would not see if they actually entered the building, because they always left in a hurry to get to work on time. They would always be surprised when told of the number of times their children skipped class.”
The city have so far invested US$ 670,000 to design, test and fabricate these school uniforms.

Discussion:
Education is indeed important, but if the children wants to skip class in order to do other things, should we monitor and manage the students as a consequence or should we instead try and make education more attractive to those children, who tends to skip class?


Pros:
This might actually be a good way to ensure that children attend their classes and that their parents know what they are up to during school hours. The potential to adapt this into other sectors might as well prove successful - to keep track of employees for example.

Cons:
Privacy issues. Is it a good idea to replace the normal raising of your kid, by influencing them to do the right thing, with monitoring systems? How long will it take before we are all chip-coded. Isn't it enough that we are being monitored online?

Tell us what you think of this in the comment section.