Cyber-Surveillance Debuts in Preschools
Forging an unlikely marriage between technology and parenting, a preschool in Tustin is installing video cameras in its classrooms and plans to broadcast the footage on the Internet so families can monitor their children.
Though day-care centers in New York and Georgia are experimenting with similar setups, this is believed to be the first cyber-surveillance installation in a Southern California preschool.
Although staff at the Cathy’s Kids Club in Tustin say the program will strengthen the bond between parent and child, critics wonder whether it’s wise to have big brother--and Mom--watching over teachers.
“What’s next? Husband cams in the neighborhood bars?” asked Dan Lavin, a technology analyst with the Bay Area research firm Dataquest. “With the proliferation of cameras everywhere, you’re starting to see the indiscriminate distribution of images. It sounds like a cute idea, but what a waste of technology.”
By capturing the classroom scene and displaying it on the World Wide Web, school owner Cathy Sipia said she hopes to create a digital looking-glass.
Cameras will be set in the school’s seven classroom and several more on the playground. Parents get a Web address, a user name and a password to access the site.
Once parents log on, they can click a button and flip from camera to camera, looking at still photographs that are updated every few seconds.
The project, now in development and set to launch within eight weeks, was developed by Sipia’s husband Michael and her son, Chris Klein. Michael Sipia installs computer systems and Klein owns a small Web development firm.
“We are going to do everything we can to keep strangers out,” Klein said. “Encryption, regularly rotating passwords, anything and everything to keep the kids safe. This is supposed to make the parents feel better about leaving their children--not worse.”
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Broadcasting systems on the World Wide Web, like the one Sipia wants to launch, emerged around 1993, when users hooked portable digital cameras to their computers and displayed live pictures of their work and home environments.
Now, thousands of people use camera-and-computer setups, turning the Web into a voyeuristic realm for the bored. The viewing ranges from risque (a live sex show from Amsterdam) to ridiculous (a percolating coffee pot in Cambridge, England).
“Why not use the Internet in a smart way?” asked Cathy Sipia, who points out that parents are being more cautious about keeping tabs on their children.
“We can give parents peace of mind when they’re at their high-stress jobs,” she said.
While the Tustin preschool staff builds the video network, the educator consults with--and gets approval from--the parents of her students. So far, she said, the response has been positive.
“My immediate reaction was, ‘Can you do that?’ ” said Marcia Zigrang, 31, of Tustin. Two of her three children have attended Cathy’s Kids Club, and she plans to enroll her youngest daughter next year.
“It’s hard to go to work and not be a part of [my children’s] day. I only wish I could have an option like this with every school.”
The preschool teachers in Tustin, less thrilled about being watched, peppered the Sipias with questions. How safe is the system? Can strangers watch the children?
“Some people thought it’d be restrictive,” said Rehana Amer, who has taught at Cathy’s Kids Club for three years. “But the more we talked about the idea, the more comfortable the teachers felt.”
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The first online preschool system was launched last spring with a pilot program at The Children’s Corner in Ridgefield, Conn. The private day-care center served as a test site for a software program called “I See You.”
Developed by Simplex Knowledge Co. in White Plains, N.Y. and marketed by IBM, the program installed cameras in all classrooms and play areas.
Staff said the students know the cameras are there, but generally ignore them.
Parents pay nothing extra, said Simplex co-owner Pat Martin. Simplex leases the equipment to the centers for $200 to $350 a month, depending on the number of cameras in use. Centers then offset the cost by selling ad space on the Web site to local businesses.
To make sure the Simplex system was sealed, IBM hired computer experts who tried--and failed--to break into the school’s network.
“Every half-hour, I check in to see where [my daughter is],” said Judi Stoogenke, a commercial interior designer whose 3-year-old daughter is enrolled at The Children’s Corner. “I watch her have lunch practically every day. It’s like if a company opened up its books for public scrutiny--you get to see everything.”
Simplex has expanded into other markets, such as offering the program to funeral homes seeking live “cyber-mourning” services.
Other firms have joined this watchful arena, such as KinderCam’s service in four Georgia day-care centers. The program, marketed by ParentNet Inc. of Roswell, Ga., places cameras in every classroom, the school’s cafeteria, gym and playground. The technology firm is also targeting hospitals and homes with live-in nannies.
“We felt it was a positive use of the Internet,” said Nan Howkins, director of The Children’s Corner. “We as educators need to be accountable to parents. A center that’s not proud of what it’s doing won’t have a program like this.”
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For years, society has relied on high-tech surveillance systems as a means of control.
Elevators sport hidden cameras. So do malls, banks and local convenience stores. Some public schools have taken the controversial step of installing video machines in corridors and at the school gates to enhance children’s safety.
This footage, advocates say, is a deterrent against vandalism and other crime.
Add the Internet into the mix, and suddenly the dynamic changes.
“This speaks to a lack of trust in human relationships and a basic flaw of our society,” said Andrew Leonard, an author who follows technology.
“If you depend on the Web to monitor your child, you’re abdicating personal responsibility for the situation. It’s better to drop by the school for an hour than be a looming eye in the background.”
No one contests the importance of a child’s safety, Leonard said. However, technology experts fear that videotaping inside a preschool exaggerates any potential dangers to children.
“There’s a paranoid feeling that if we’re not watching our kids all the time, something bad will happen,” said David Banisar, an attorney with the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington D.C. “It’s very Orwellian. It sets a precedent for a generation of kids who could grow up thinking that surveillance is normal.”
But others feel that heightened security is a natural manifestation of living in an information age.
“You’ve already got parents giving their kids beepers and cell phones. Now, it’s cameras and the Web,” said Phil Agre, professor of communication and technology at UC San Diego. “We live in a time when it’s so easy to accumulate data and use it to follow each [other]. If this approach can be applied in a private preschool, it could eventually be adopted in the public arena.”
But security concerns, and cost, prevent some of the country’s largest preschool chains from adopting this kind of system. Some day-care companies also worry about potential legal liability.
“If it were one camera on one child--and only one parent can watch that child--then maybe we could do it,” said Peggy Ford, vice president and general counsel for Kansas City-based LaPetite Academy, the second-largest day-care company in the United States with 750 locations.
“We can’t control the technology that way yet, so we can’t afford to take that chance,” she said.
