Canadian students object to biometic access - for gym access

The University of Northern British Columbia has installed biometric scanners "controlling access to the sports centre" [why?] 300 students have signed an online petition opposing it.

"Graduate student Gabrielle Wint-Rose wasn't sure why her gym needs such personal data, and said the invasiveness of the system should have been considered and students consulted before installing the system.

"It was a really shocking experience. It really wakes you up. You realize you walk into this facility and the only way to access is through finger scanning and all of sudden you're in this moment where you have no choice. What do you do?" said Wint-Rose on Wednesday.

Lindsay Stinson told CBC News she was upset she had to register her fingerprint and give personal information before she could work out at her university's new gym."

Proportionality in this must be considered. Who would want to monitor or possibly profile students exercise information? Does the university own the gym or do they lease it out to a private company? Where does the students data go?

Want to exercise = give personal biometric data? (would suggest boycotting gym and jogging instead, cheaper and non intrusive)

Students in Canada have (absolutely) more awareness than UK primary school pupils, 4 years old, that are now using fingerprint biometric systems here, and in the USA, without parental consent/knowledge.

With the Canadian students being older and having awareness of their personal data, they consequently raise valid privacy issues:

"Wint-Rose said she is concerned about what happens to the biometric information and who controls it.

"The northern sports centre has my information. I have no way of getting that back. I don't know how it's being collected, where it's being stored, who has access to this information," said Wint-Rose."

The following is a published paper by the Candian Information and Privacy Commissioner in March 2007:

Biometric Encryption: A Positive-Sum Technology that Achieves Strong Authentication, Security AND Privacy

by
Ann Cavoukian, Ph.D. Information and Privacy Commissioner/Ontario &
Alex Stoianov, Ph.D. Biometrics Scientist

Students fingerprints ending up in the States

Back in January I blogged about Canadian students biometric details going over the border to the States without their knowledge - this can happen to students in Europe, Asia, and Africa that sit the LSAT.

Michael Geist writes :"While the predictive reliability of the test has been the subject of considerable controversy, in recent days the LSAT [Law Schools Apptitude Test] has attracted attention for a different reason. As students file into testing centers throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia, and Africa, they must provide a thumbprint, which is used to crackdown on fraudulent test takers. The biometric data is transferred to the United States and retained by the Law School Admissions Council, the organization that administers the test."

The problem is that once the Law School Admissions Council has the student's biometric fingerprint details it could be compelled, by statutory provisions found in the USA Patriot Act, to give up this information to the US authorities which, according to Philippa Lawson of the Candian On the Identity Trail website "allows FBI access to private sector databases of customer information for counter-terrorism purposes, without any reasonable or probable cause to suspect wrongdoing by the individuals whose information is being disclosed."

She goes on the say: "Once digitally stored, biometric data - like any other data - is easily copied, transmitted, altered and searched. But unlike other personal data such as names, addresses and identification numbers, biometric data does not change. And unlike credit cards, passports, and drivers licences, biometric data cannot be invalidated and substituted once compromised.

The federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act which came into force in 2001, is based on a set of widely accepted fair information principles. One of these principles is that organizations should not collect more personal information than necessary for the purposes that they have identified. Another is that those purposes must be reasonable."

Sounds very much like our Data Protection Act:

The Data Protection Priciples, Part I, The Principles
3. Personal data shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose or purposes for which they are processed.

Canadian privacy commissioners are currently investigating the LSAT complaints.

Where do your fingerprints go?

Unregulated taking of fingerpirnts from childrens as young as three in the UK?

This is happening in Canada to university applicants...

From Excaliber, York University's Newspaper, Toronto, January 3rd 2007:

If you're thinking about taking, or if you've already taken, the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT), you know all about the hours of studying it takes to prepare for the exam. But are you prepared for what happens to your thumbprint when you hand it over at the door?

What happens to the fingerprint afterward is the cause of the controversy that has spread across Canadian law school campuses.

After thumbprints are taken at the Law Schools Admission Tests (LSAT) exam, they are sent to the United States to be processed. here, American authorities, including the FBI, have access to the prints.

Claire O'Sullivan is a fourth-year contemporary studies and Spanish student at the University of King's College in Halifax. She took the LSAT this fall and is upset that she had to hand over her thumbprint before writing the exam.

She said she was never told what the print would be used for. She said she wishes more people were protesting the requirement for students to hand over their thumbprints before writing tests like the LSAT.

"I wish it never happened," she said.