Surveillance Futures has sounded a warning on the complex web of tracking devices children navigate at school, online and at home.

Co-editor and Australian National University criminologist Emmeline Taylor said the growing use of surveillance technologies such as GPS raised questions about whether their primary use was for care or control.

While Australia may be a way off introducing at-home drug and semen testing, some schools were dabbling in using GPS to keep track of children and parents were increasingly monitoring their child's whereabouts, Dr Taylor said.

She said many young people also felt they had no choice in joining social networks for fear of being left out. With complicated and lengthy privacy statements only skimmed over, large companies were being given ready access to a person's data - forever.

"These technologies are certainly starting to emerge here," Dr Taylor said.

"Australia is in a really good position in [to] look to some of the mistakes countries have made, particularly in the UK and US, in using technologies for security purposes where they haven't delivered their objective."

Surveillance Futures, written by 13 authors from seven countries, also examined the ways parents use social media to track the progress of their children.

Headlines were made last month when an Austrian teenager sued her parents for sharing photos of her as a baby on Facebook.

A survey of parents in 10 countries found 80 per cent of respondents with social media profiles had shared images of their children aged younger than two years old.

"You've got people saying, 'Actually, I don't want all my friends and colleagues to see me being potty trained'," Dr Taylor said.

The authors have suggested research should be undertaken into the impact of surveillance technologies on family dynamics and a child's growth.

Dr Taylor's own work on the use of CCTV in UK schools found that being constantly monitored made students feel like criminals.

Children were also embarrassed to put their hand up in the classroom for fear of being recorded offering an incorrect answer. Another side effect was that bullies moved harassment off-campus to avoid the camera's gaze.

"Kids felt quite subdued, very conforming, and felt they couldn't express themselves," Dr Taylor said.