Ray of Infamy

Speaking of dystopian Chinese surveillance:

Schools in southern China are using chip-powered “smart” school uniforms to track their students in a bid to tackle truancy and boost attendance, according to state media.

[…]

If students walk out of the school without permission, an automatic voice alarm will activate, the report said.

Paired with facial recognition devices installed on school doors, the smart uniforms can also sense if students swap uniforms.

But, I can already hear some idiot saying, at least the trains run on —

But so far, it’s not clear how effective smart uniforms are at preventing students from playing hooky.

The high-tech uniforms have helped increase the attendance rate, “but not much”, according to [a school principal], who added that the school chose the uniforms mainly as a way to send notifications and homework to students through an app connected to the uniform chips.

Oh. (Not that I believe that explanation — “connecting” the app to the student’s phone or an account login would have been enough — but still.)

And if you weren’t creeped out enough already:

“We choose not to check the accurate location of students after school, but when the student is missing and skipping classes, the uniforms help locate them,” [another school principal] told the Global Times

You can almost see the space reserved for the word “yet” in that sentence.