The Sutter, California based company InCom announced on February 15, 2005 at a packed special school district meeting of the Brittan School Board that it would end its pilot program to require students to wear Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) badges that track the students' movements. The decision came after the ACLU of Northern California and other organizations urged school officials to end the program after being contacted by several parents.

Sutter resident Dawn Cantrall, who has a child in the 7th grade, added: "We are proud that we stopped it here in Sutter and we will continue to fight to make sure that no child is ever forced to have an RFID badge. As parents, it is our duty to keep our children safe and it is not safe to have tracking devices in student badges."

Dawn and her husband Michael Cantrall filed a formal complaint against the Brittan Elementary School Board on January 30 after meeting with several school officials. Like other parents, the Cantralls only learned about the program, which was introduced on January 18, when their child came home wearing the tracking device.

"This is a tremendous victory for the students and families of Sutter," said Nicole Ozer, Technology and Civil Liberties Policy Director of the ACLU of Northern California. "However, this is not just an issue affecting school children. The potential use of RFIDs in other identity documents, such as driver's licenses and medical cards, should be of concern to all Californians. RFIDs in identity documents is an issue that requires a statewide response and we plan to encourage legislative action on this front."

Read the press release on this issue.
http://www.aclu.org/StudentsRights/StudentsRights.cfm?orgid=n&ID=17524&c=161&MX=1949&H=1