I was horrified when I went to Japan recently and had to let them take my fingerprints and a picture. I was even more horrified when I complained to my Japanese friends and they let me know that America has the same practice.

You have your friendly neighborhood DHS to thank for that one: http://tokyo.usembassy.gov/e/info/tinfo-customs.html

I think this program is security theater more than anything else but our entry/exit requirements still aren't that onerous compared to other countries I can think of.

Of all the countries (a lot) I've been in and out of, the U.S. has recently become the most troublesome. And, I carry a U.S. passport. I can't even imagine how difficult it is for non-U.S. citizens. It's embarrassing.

QR Codes are used extensively here in Japan, and have been for many years. I also have no trouble at all reading them. Takes less than a second, and I don't need internet access to read them. I've also been amazed at the kind of data: coupons, ads, Business card, small maps, flight information, restaurant food nutritional information, and that's just scratching the surface of what they're used for here.

Frankly, the thing I see killing this one that it relies on a central server. Man-in-the-middle anyone?

It's hard for 7 year olds to accidentally kill their playmate and have drive-by shootings when guns are

properly handled and locked up

Parent is clearly advocating gun safety here.

Work computers and school computers cannot be thought of on the same legal level.

Primarily because work computers contain gobs of intellectual property. That's to say nothing of all the sensitive security, passwords, and customer/client data that exists on corporate/company laptops. Whereas school computers (at least up through high school) do not have any of these risks.

The difference here is that corporations lock down computers to protect the corporate IP and sensitive data, whereas this article is talking about locking down computers to prevent it's user from using it immorally. This is a problem because the school can't implement moral restrictions with which all parents can agree, and that could become a legal quagmire.

In the real world employers don't and or legally can't force you to censor your personal PC's at home, where they are not paying for the Internet Service.

Too bad you posted AC, that's worth some mod points.

Reality is, the school has no jurisdiction over what the student does off school grounds. Including what they do on their computer.

IANAL, but if you want to control what they can and can't do with the computers, you have to keep the computers on school property. Otherwise, I suspect you would be running into legal issues.

The above post is also right in recognizing that no matter what you do to try to prevent the students from doing certain things on the computer ... if they want to do it, they'll do it. Live CD's anyone? How about a dual boot?

I think it (at least on the surface) was supposed to be just as ridiculous as her argument was.

He was soliciting a, "that's preposterous" reaction from her. The genius of his reply is that his reply has at least some foundation in truth whereas hers was downright ignorant.

It was a parody of her ridiculous argument in which he employed her reasoning in a field she could understand. Because, obviously she doesn't understand squat about Linux.