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group of Bay Shore, New York, school students will soon be wearing a
watch-like device that allows school officials to track how active they
are. The devices are called Polar Active monitors and they count
heartbeats, detect motion and even track students’ sleeping habits in an
effort to combat obesity. The monitors are distributed by Polar
Electro, of Lake Success, the U.S. division of a Finland firm. They cost
$90 each. School districts in St. Louis and South Orange, New Jersey,
already use the devices, which has raised some privacy concerns. “When
you get into monitoring people’s biological vital signs, that’s a pretty
intrusive measurement,” said Jay Stanley, of the American Civil
Liberties Union. “There are key privacy interests at play.” Stanley said
parents need to have a say in how long the data will be stored and who
will have access to it and schools must obtain parents’ consent. “A
program like this should only be voluntary. Nobody should be forced to
reveal biological indicators,” he said.
