Big Brother Goes To School

A sign of the times: a high school in southern California is using wireless cameras to track every person and car arriving on campus. Hall monitors will soon carry wireless computers to access the database, and the school is considering an upgrade to face-recognition software. According to The Los Angeles Times, these measures are a response to the twin fears of terrorism and school shootings. Jerry Parli, who has two granddaughters at West Hills High School, doesn’t mind: “It’s a terrible thing, but it’s time to embrace Big Brother.”

Author: Peter Maass

I was born and raised in Los Angeles. In 1983, after graduating from the University of California at Berkeley, I went to Brussels as a copy editor for The Wall Street Journal/Europe. I left the Journal in 1985 to write for The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune, covering NATO and the European Union. In 1987 I moved to Seoul, South Korea, where I wrote primarily for The Washington Post. After three years in Asia I moved to Budapest to cover Eastern Europe and the Balkans. I spent most of 1992 and 1993 covering the war in Bosnia for the Post.