What is hidden in our biometrics?

Dermatoglyphics Multiple Intelligence Test, DMIT - a way to tell a person's intelligence by their fingerprints.  Hogwash or truth?  Can fingerprints really reveal our intellectual strengths and weakness?

Parents in India seem to think so with the article 'How brainy is baby? Parents find out' appearing in The Times of India.  According to the article this emerging trend is appearing in Asia, US and Australia with over 2,000 tests a month being done.  Children as young as 9 months old can take the test with the vast majority of clients being under 9 years old.  This is what the article goes on to say:

"A DMIT report tells parents whether their child learns better by 'seeing, hearing or doing' (visual, auditory or kinesthetic learner), whether he has high or low inborn learning capacity (short-term memory ), how long it takes for his mind to process information and so on. This, coupled with the finding about his dominant type of intelligence (there are eight listed ones, including linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, kinesthetic, musical, naturalist, inter-personal and intrapersonal ) can help parents give their child a good "head start", say companies." 

One company cites the need for DMIT in that "12,000+ students commit sucides in India every year due to exam related stress.  Parental and peer pressure and prime causes for such high number of suicides" and that "DMIT can provide crucial inputs for students counseling and guidance" also stating "In recent years U.S., Japan and Taiwan have applied Dermatoglyphics to diagnose Down’s Syndrome, congenital disorders, genetic abnormalities, educational fields, human resources management, employee recruitment etc."

It is fair to say then, that our biometrics have the potential to give data about us that we cannot possibly imagine.  When children are encouraged willynilly to give up their biometrics for everyday mundane activity in schools, this DMIT analysis does show there is further potential to glean information from our biometrics - maybe today's children offering up their biometric data in schools should be mindful of this.  Yet more information about us, profiling, categorising with potential to judge.  

Are we being informed of what it is that is being collated about us?  Fingerprints for school meals?  Most probably benign... let's hope so.

India installing fingerprint systems in 40,000 schools

We think we've got it bad in in Britain and the USA with using biometrics with children in schools, at a completely disproportionate rate to the adult population that use biometric systems. (Perhaps because adults have a grasp of their rights maybe?)

But move over UK and USA - enter India. 40,000 schools are to be using such biometric fingerprint systems within 3 years. That's some contract.

With there only being around 25,000 schools in the UK this gives a sense of perspective to the speed and growth of the biometric industry going into schools in India.

Unsurprisingly these fingerprint systems are being foisted on "one of the most backward districts of Gujarat having predominant tribal population and low literacy" - so no complaints there then!

In this particular setting I can partly understand why biometric technology is being deployed here, but I would hope that, as a tool, it is not abused as well, as the people that are using this are clearly some of the worlds most vunerable.

"The pilot project covers 680 primary schools, 70 Cluster Resource Centres (CRCs) and 4 Block Resources Centres (BRCs) in Narmada district, one of the most backward districts of Gujarat having predominant tribal population and low literacy. It will cover around 2,508 teachers and 76,000 students.

The expanded project is expected to cover around 40,000 schools, which are to be covered, in a phased manner, in the coming 2-3 years."