Wanted - Smith and Browns Fingerprints

Just caught this on the Privacy International site - fingerprints of Smith and Brown "wanted".

It reads:

GUILTY of reckless endangerment of our personal security by storing our fingerprints on a central ID database and risking another catastrophic data breach.

GUILTY of willful intent to undermine our right to own and control our biometrics.

etc, etc...

The fingerprints of Wolfgang Schauble, Germany's interior minister, who believes strongly in the collection of "citizens' unique physical characteristics as a means of preventing terrorism" has already been got. Look out Smith and Brown.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander surely...

Another concerned parent blogging about fingerprinting children

Another parent has set up a blog after their high school in Derry, Northern Ireland, fingerprinted pupils WITHOUT parental consent - worth a read - http://stopfingerprintingschoolchildren.blogspot.com/

"Oakgrove College Derry, a secondary school in the north of Ireland has fingerprinted most of its pupils to "help speed up school meals". Parental consent was not sought before this mass fingerprint piracy was launched. This sneak attack on civil liberties should be opposed by every parent who cares for the personal data of their children"

With no surprise at all the DCSF's (DfES) guidance is being totally ignored by schools (if they even know it exists). The Information Commissioner's Office states that schools doing this, not involving parents, is "heavy-handed".

Heavy-handed it may be but schools do it. Until the law is changed this children's biometric market grows - with every penny of it being generated by the taxes we pay.

There is a growing band of annoyed, concerned parents voicing their anger and worries on this.

The NO2ID message board on biometrics in schools is getting busier with more parents outraged that their children have been fingerprinted and posts on there from concerned students too with lots of good advice there too.

Good for the parent who's started that blog - more people should know about this.

Australian school stops fingerprinting students after allegations of intimidation

Having been away for a while seems that things have been a little busy.

In Australia it seems that some heavy handedness was used to fingerprint students for monitoring attendance levels at Ku-ring-gai High School .

A quote from one Year 12 student shows that the school maybe should be spending money on educating the children in their care as it is quite clear that this student really has not grasped how government institutions should operate, "Perhaps a lesson from this is that parents and students should involve themselves in the school community and in the decisions being made on their behalf." what?!- no, the school should be asking express permission from parents and debating whether or not this level of technology is needed and how better money can be spent.

But then when it is alleged that school staff intimidated and insulted students who were unwilling to take part in the trial, then truancy sounds like the least of the problems at Ku-ring-gai High School.

Good for student Brad Lorge who refused to be fingerprinted! "When I began to question, I was informed that I would be stupid to not comply and that there was no reason for me to not provide my fingerprint," he said. "It was intimidating. I was the only one out of the four who refused to provide my fingerprint."

..and this from an ex-student there.

Needless to say that the biometric fingerprinting system is currently on hold at the school.

Fingerprinting children for food reduces schools "annoyances"

On the fingerprinting of children for food in schools, doubts arise:

“The benefits certainly do not justify the privacy violations that we’re seeing,” said Alessandra Meetze, executive director of the Arizona chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

But Beverly Blough, the director of food service in Wood County School District, West Virginia, cited that the pressures of No Child Left Behind was the reason why West Virginia schools used biometric systems -apparently it would...

“ ...reduce the annoyances that would take the principal and staff away from education and focusing on things that were relatively minor in a student’s day.”

A mother, Joy Robinson-Van Gilder, from Illinois who has been instrumental in bringing about a change in the the law in Illinois to limit/regulate how biometric technology is used with children, said:

“It just opens a huge database out there that’s just easy for identity theft, I think it’s against their civil rights, without a doubt, and it is an invasion of privacy.”

Biometrics - what data is logged alongside our childrens biometrics?

There is a really informative article here by Rachel Wareing about schools in Sussex, UK, implementing children's biometrics for these reasons:

Parents can see what their children are eating for lunch.

Teachers do not have to waste time taking a register. [!]

School librarians no longer have to issue books.

...others to see what reading habits our children have, by gender, age and ethnicity - sensitive information needs to be dealt with under the UK Data Protection Act.

£25,000 biometric cashless system bought - based on "commonly perceived benefits"

At the end of January Sophie McKeand's child's school told parents they were "introducing a "cashless catering system", where children will pay for their school dinners using either a fingerprint identification system or a pin number". This is in Flintshire, Wales.

Sophie rightly objected "to have such important and sensitive biometric data being taken from children for a matter as trivial as buying lunch is absolutely absurd."

Since then Sophie has been busy finding out, via the Freedom of Information Act, just how much these systems cost (using our tax money), where the funding is coming from, who made the decision to implement such systems, etc. - interesting reading indeed.

Her Freedom of Information questions and answers, for Flintshire County Council, are on the "Biometrics in Schools" forum over on the NO2ID site.

Here are a few questions and answers:

3. What is the FULL, TOTAL AND FINAL cost of this system in Alun School?

A3.The full cost of the system in the Alun School is as follows:

PCS Systems £20,905.00
Software £ 1,062.32
Installation £ 1,162.50
Server £ 283.14
Printer etc. £ 574.00
Writing/Electrics £ 1,162.50

TOTAL £25,149.46 [this is cost for one school]

1. I wish to be provided with ALL cost / benefit analysis that have been completed concerning anything whatsoever to do with implementing these cashless systems in Flintshire schools. Not just for Mold Alun but for all schools in Flintshire as stated in the quote from the first letter from Alun School, above. This includes all equipment, maintenance and IT services.

A1. The Council holds no information regarding a cost/benefit analysis. [What?]
The commonly perceived benefits however, are that..... then follows some drivel about reducing bullying and enabling children to eat before afternoon registration, up take of free meals increased, blah, blah.

So, lets get this right...

...the council spends 25K of our money on a biometric/pin cashless catering system purely based on "commonly perceived benefits" - with no cost/benefit analysis to justify such expenditure?

IMHO this sounds like jawdropping negligence.

Flintshire County Council sound like they've been sold a line. "Commonly perceived benefits" that are backed up with absolutely no academic or government literature, but I guess probably literature from sales persons.

It would seem that the implementation of the systems (that were originally proposed to be run throughout all Flintshire Schools, which would be around £250,000 of taxpayers money) has not been a completely open and transparent process, as reported today:

"Cllr Ray Dodd said he shared some of Miss McKeand's concerns. "I am surprised that this biometric system has been introduced in a school already without any consultation with elected councillors.

The education department said there has been extensive consultation, I have not been able to establish any consultation with county councillors,"

Iowa rejects the re-introduction of fingerprint scanners in schools

Des Moines Register, Iowa, USA, reports the bills that are up for debate, and therefore possible legislation, and those that are not to be debated and made into law.

"...state lawmakers pushed dozens of bills through committee, saving them from today's so-called "funnel" deadline. The week is a pivotal time for legislation. Bills that made the deadline will be debated. Those that failed the funnel are done."

Biometric fingerprint scanners in schools didn't make it through the 'funnel'.

LIKELY DEAD

FINGERPRINT SCANNERS: Some schools want to be able to use fingerprint scanners to speed children through lunch lines, the library checkout and bus boarding. State lawmakers outlawed the devices for school use in 2005 amid concerns about legal issues, privacy and information hacking. And this idea was stripped from Senate Study Bill 3010 this year.

Parents to be consulted about biometric systems in Sussex school

Warden Park School in Cuckfield, Sussex, could be using childrens fingerprints for paying for school lunches:

"The biometric technology could be introduced at the school as early as June if parents support the proposals.

Using pupils' fingerprints in schools has been criticised by many MPs, including Sussex Conservatives Nick Gibb and Tim Loughton, who fear sensitive information about children could fall into the wrong hands.

Mr Loughton, MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, has said it is another step towards a surveillance society."

At least the school is going to consult with parents but according to headteacher Steve Johnson hundreds of schools in the region now used the technology.

If Warden Park School make their decision in favour of the technology a Freedom of Information Act Request could be in order to determine:

Our public money cost. Cost/benefit analysis. (One such system sold to a school in Leeds, according to the Headteacher on BBC Radio 4 "You and Yours" programme, cost £14,000 - after a Freedom of Information request this turned out to be over £27,000 - only a slight misrepresentation of 13K of our money!)

Where/which budget the money to purchase system is coming from.

The extent of parental consultation.

How this technology can "reduce bullying" i.e. related bullying figures re: catering before installation.

How many instances of "children stealing other pupils' dinner money" happened before biometric catering system installed.

A spokesperson from the company hoping to sell the system to the school stated that the "guidelines from the Department for Children, Schools and Families made it clear data could not be passed to any third party organisations" - erm... not quite true, see Q50 & 51 in parliament.

American Civil Liberties Union voice concerns using childrens fingerprints for food purchase

Chuck Samuelson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, Minnesota on the possible introduction of fingerprint scanners for lunch lines at Oltman Junior High in St. Paul Park and East Ridge High School.:

"This is a solution in search of a problem. It just baffles me. Of all the problems schools face, is this really an issue?"

Officials think it will speed up lunch lines, solve the problem of children forgetting their ID numbers and prevent identity theft (?!)

But the comments from the biometric vendor in this article are quite bizarre and would be funny if they weren't so seriously off the mark :

"There always seems to be this knee-jerk reaction that somehow, some way, a person is giving up their identity." - putting a child's biometric details on a relatively unsecure system, biometric details that have to be secure for the lifetime of the child, decades in fact, for insignificant tasks such as paying for food I would argue IS most definitely "giving up their identity" to significant risk.

When you bear in mind the obvious fact that computers are advancing at a great rate along with transferable softwear from biometric database to biometric database (and with that hackers abilities) that using childrens biometric for mundane administrative tasks is wholly inappropriate.

This biometric vendor goes on to say:

"It's absolutely the opposite. It actually protects a person's identity." - right...

Utah to fingerprint pupils for lunches?

In Utah, parents are to discuss this month whether the use of fingerprint technology, for lunch payments and monitoring childrens eating habits, in Draper public schools is appropriate.

Let's hope they make a sensible informed decision - listen to the schools reasoning but also take on board other expert opinion, such as Microsoft's Architect of Identity, Kim Cameron.

Arizona Senate bill bans biometrics in schools

Arizona, USA, have a bill SB1216 banning biometrics in schools, details below and here is the 'fact sheet' of the bill.

It heartening that people are taking on board the issues that arise with the, increasingly obvious, inappropriate use of biometric technology with children in schools.

When it was reported that Espiritu community schools in Phoenix, USA, fingerprinted children, without informing parents, in mid January 2008 it taken a little over a month for this bill to happen.

I hope this speedy action shames our Labour UK Members of Parliament to act as the elected people of Arizona have, i.e. working the people that elected them - although I'm not holding my breath.

Well done to mum, Shirley Wallace, Arizona State Sen. Karen Johnson and State Rep. Andy Biggs, the others that supported this bill and Fred Bellemy, a Phoenix attorney who specializes in Technology Law for their efforts to bring this bill about in such a short amount of time.

REFERENCE TITLE: schools; biometric information; prohibition

State of Arizona Senate, Forty-eighth Legislature, Second Regular Session 2008

SB 1216

Introduced by
Senators Johnson, Blendu: Gray C, Harper; Representative Pearce

AN ACT

amending Title 15, chapter 1, article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding section 15-107; relating to school pupils.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Title 15, chapter 1, article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 15-107, to read:

START_STATUTE 15-107. Biometric information; prohibition; definition

A. School districts and charter schools shall not collect biometric information from pupils.

B. For the purposes of this section, "biometric information" means any information that is collected through an identification process for individual persons based on unique behavioral or physiological characteristics, including fingerprints, hand geometry, voice recognition, facial recognition, iris scans or retinal scans. END_STATUTE