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.