School Children's Finger Prints Taken Without Consent!

[pedr]

I have to admit I'm not sure I understand the issue here.

 

The 'fingerprinting' is, I believe, more accurately creating a unique code from reading the lines on a finger. It's not storing a photo or detailed scan of a fingerprint in a computer. No-one could do anything untoward with the data held. It would be absolutely useless for any purpose except to identify the person who has just put their finger on a scanner. A similar technology is being trialled by the Co-op in Oxfordshire whereby you can 'pay by touch', i.e. use your finger instead of a debit card. I'll reiterate - you can't do anything with the data except use it to say "John Smith just touched the scanner to say he was in class/was paying for his dinner/etc." You can't sell it to anyone, if the database was hacked no-one could do anything with the data, and so on.

 

From what I can tell, this all stems from a desire to create a cashless school. Children bringing dinner money etc are targets for thieves and bullies, and children on free school meals are identified by not having to pay cash for their meals. Some schools used pre-pay cards to get around this, but I am sure that children forget/lose cards, and cards can be stolen. So schools turned to biometric technology. Parents can pay money by cheque for school meals, kids who have free school meals have exactly the same system as everyone else so aren't identified openly, and possibly things like registration are easier, particularly if you want to register each lesson to tackle truanting.

 

Should schools inform parents about this? Of course they should. But there doesn't seem to me to be any logical reason a parent should object.

[Darbees]

Why do police use them then?

[SUPERTYKE]

I'm not sure what scares me more, the whole biometrics/database/ID card thing, or the complacency of attitudes like this.

 

As they say - 'you don't know what you've got till it's gone'. Our freedom has been steadily draining away for years.

We are very nearly a police state as it is - prevention of terrorism laws have taken police powers to a mind blowing level. Ignore these 'little' changes at your peril.

 

Children's minds are influenced by colourful cartoons, computer games, ads, super heros etc etc etc, relentlessly, right from their earliest years; until, by innocuous increments, their whole mindset is somewhere beyond your control; their whole existance is soon governed by the need to possess, to own briefly their hearts desire and then to discard it and move on to their NEXT obsession.

 

By the time they're teenagers they're well on the way to terminal indebtedness - where, for many, drugs and crime become viable 'escape routes'.

 

So maybe it is just an idea to save time and money; people will be easier to track down, after they've been wrung out by the evils of mindless consumerism, if they're finger printed as kids.

[Siân]

I've not come across the taking of finger prints but I'm highly sceptical about this.

 

Schools have been taking photographs of children for years - every year when the school photographer comes copies of the pictures are kept on the individual records of each child. There's nothing dodgy about this - they aren't released outside the education system.

 

These days some schools do request parents' permission for pictures of their children to used on the school's website (these tend to be ones of children at work / play within the school) and they won't use them if permission is denied.

[pedr]

Why do police use them then?

Police take physical prints of the indentations on the fingers, scan that into a computer as a photograph, and create a complete computer analysis of those indentations for searching/comparing by computer.

 

Schools use a scanner (not ink and paper) to create a numerical code from the indentations on one finger (not all ten) which is then associated with the various data about the pupil (library books, perhaps registration or food account etc).

 

This isn't the same thing at all.

[bladesufc1]

You can't say whether or not you like change per se. This is a bad change and lectrolove is right to say that complacent attitudes such as yours on this issue are the scary thing.

 

please explain why?? so you wont be updating your passort when yours runs out then??? or driving license??

[Darbees]

So are you saying that if the police take fingerprints off something and then check if they are on a database compiled by scanning they won't find it if it's there? I don't think so. This raises the issue that the DNA debate raises about mistaken identity.

[Darbees]

please explain why?? so you wont be updating your passort when yours runs out then??? or driving license??

I've no choice but I'll do it reluctantly and support any attempts to stop giving unneccessary information to the authorities.

[helibish]

[quote=fred_notdead;2160191

 

ITS JUST A GAME

At one primary school children were told "Lets play the game of spies. Its just a game, so theres no need to tell your parents."

 

 

 

 

this part of the quote worries me in todays world we should encourage our kids to be oopen and honest not the teachers saying dont tell your parents. if my child was at this school i would take issue over this, my child was brought up with there is no such things as secrets it is i feel bad to say things like this,

[nick2]

ITS JUST A GAME

At one primary school children were told "Lets play the game of spies. Its just a game, so theres no need to tell your parents." They were then split up into groups of five or six and every single child was fingerprinted and photographed. We feel this is an appalling breach of trust by the school in question.

 

Which school, where ?

 

Without anything to back it up that just sounds a bit hysterical.