Eye spy technology helps parents keep tabs on kids
November 12, 2001 10:03 PM
(KMOV) -- If you have young children, you're probably familiar with the game "I Spy" where kids try to guess what you are seeing. Well, the phrase "I spy" is taking on a whole new meaning. New "eye spy technology" is helping parents keep tabs on their kids.
In the world of watching people, even investigator Durwood Hurst is sometimes amazed by the things he can use these days.
"Absolutely. Daily, it really does. The technology is overwhelming," he says.
 
A small video camera is hidden behind a clock. (KMOV)
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Want to know what the kids are doing when you're not around? For about $300, a video camera that is installed on the back of a normal-looking clock can record hours of video tape on your home VCR.
"Technology just keep getting smaller and smaller," Hurst says.
However, that's just the beginning.
A Florida-based company with branches in Minnesota and California is now releasing Digital Angel. The microprocessors are crammed into something that looks like a wristwatch and a pager-like transmitting device on your hip.
Digital Angel not only transmits where you are through a global positioning system with satellites, but give a person a password and they can log on to see your pulse rate, your body temperature and which direction you're headed.
 
Digital Angel wristwatch and pager-like device (KMOV)
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"We want to know not only where they are, but Digital Angel can provide the ability to say 'how' they are," a company representative says.
The company says it can keep track of everything from the family dog to family members with medical emergencies.
"To be able to able to track, for example, Alzheimer's patients, autistic children," says Mercedes Walton of Applied Digital Solutions, the company that makes Digital Angel.
Digital Angel costs $300 plus a monthly fee. In the future, the company says it will measure alcohol in the blood stream.
Home urine test (KMOV)
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To check what else might be in the bloodstream, some police departments are now providing drug-testing kits for free. The in-home urine tests check for marijuana and cocaine. The results are between the parents and the kids, not the police.
On the credit card front, Visa now has the PocketCard. Give it to your teenager and any purchase they make automatically sends you an e-mail telling you what they bought, where and how much.
Sprint says by next year, it plans to market cell phones with GPS systems included in the phone.
Tiny camera (KMOV)
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For parents wanting to keep a closer eye on where their kids are online, there's Spector. The software program basically takes what amounts to a snapshot of the screen, records it and when you play it back, you see exactly what was on the screen, including pictures, instant messages and e-mails.
"Spector takes a screen snapshot every 30 seconds, but if you want to get in a situation where you need to know in exact detail every conversation they're typing, you might tell it to record every second or two seconds, then you won't miss a beat," says a representative for Spector.
A New York company pushing a home video system says "be there, even when you're not." The system comes with a camera and a motion sensor. Parents will be e-mailed at the office when someone opens the door and can check on who's going in, or what's going on at the house.
"It's easy to turn your head and look the other way and not be a good parent. It's hard to be a good parent and know what your children are doing, know where they're at, who they're running with and what they're doing in their spare time," Durwood says.
