Can the 'mosquito' anti-teenager device tackle anti-social behaviour or is it a breach of human rights?

Published on Saturday 16 February 2008 18:58

I don't know anything about breaching teenagers' human rights, but if these devices are put in places where teenagers have a legal right to go, they could justifiably consider THEM anti-social.

Youngsters already wear hoods to prevent identification, so what's to stop them wearing earplugs to thwart these 'mosquitoes'.

And I suspect if we turn public places into a battleground between the young and old there will soon be a backlash, starting with the destruction of these devices under cover of darkness.

JM

Glasgow

Who's breaching whose human rights here? With rights come responsibilities. If they are causing a disturbance or just generally being a pest then this seems a perfectly fine idea.

Teuchter Mike

Aberdeen

Never mind teenagers' human rights, what about mosquitoes' human rights? You cannae go round tarring all living creatures with the same brush, especially in so cavalier a manner.

RM1353

Edinburgh

A bizarre idea for a bizarre problem. We are talking about a tiny proportion of the teenage population, so why punish the majority. There is absolutely NO replacing parental responsibility... certainly not high-pitched whiney noises. What a strange time we live in.

Johnny Gaynor

Stonehaven

These mosquitoes sound a lot like the devices we've plugged into our mains sockets to keep out the mice.

It's certainly an appealing idea to keep human vermin at bay. But I have two concerns. Can we be sure that these high-pitched noises aren't damaging our own hearing, even though we appear to be unable to sense them?

And has anyone heard the kind of music the youth of today listen to? Just keep an ear cocked to the thumping crackle oozing out of every iPod and MP3 player. If we're not careful these mosquitoes could start a new craze.

Mark 1

Carlisle