AT&T gets into the kid-tracking game

While it probably won't be peddling this new tech in California, there's still a whole world of youngsters out there for AT&T to track with its new RFID- and GPS-based mobile resource management systems, which the company has designed specifically with school districts in mind. The so-called MRM platform allows administrators to follow Junior's progress from the minute he steps on the bus in the morning, thanks to GPS-equipped transmitters that log location, speed, and condition and can even "report on events within vehicles." Once he gets to class, the school's WiFi backbone can pinpoint him anywhere on campus courtesy of that mandatory RFID badge he's wearing, which AT&T touts as an efficient solution for daily attendance tracking. That is, until teachers start relying on this system without question, and classes eventually thin out to one student in the back row with a pocket full of cash and a backpack full of IDs.