Another UK School Replaces Library Card With Fingerprinting Software
RSSBy Lauren Barack
A primary school near Manchester, England, is the latest to use fingerprint recognition to replace library cards for children, again raising big brother concerns among educators and privacy wonks.
Few schools, libraries, or even government agencies in the U.S. use the technology, which translates fingerprints into digital data that's retrievable by computers.
"It's not terribly prevalent," says Jared Kaprove, domestic surveillance counsel with the Washington, D.C.-based Electronic Privacy Information Center. "There are a few [groups] that implement them. But many are still voluntary."
Higher Lane Primary in Whitefield, Bury, in Greater Manchester plans to use biometric data, which most commonly includes fingerprints and iris scans. The plan calls for students to swipe a bar code inside the book they want borrow then press their thumb on to a scanner to authorize the loan. Books are returned in the same way. The school is one of the areas largest primary schools, with 453 pupils aged four to 11.
School officials defended the plan, saying that the voluntary system is heavily encrypted or coded and that no images of fingerprints will be stored.
In this country, the technology is still so random that the American Library Association has little comment on the matter, save for a few links to older press clippings. Of the few schools that use, or have tried the technology, most are silent on the issue including Eagan High School in Eagan, MN, whose school library reportedly tested fingerprint scanners, yet phone calls to school librarian Laura Nagel to verify if the identity tools were still in place were not returned.
However, the use of scanners in school cafeterias has gained slightly more traction with firms, such as the Caledonia, MN.-based Educational Biometric Technology, which offers the software and devices to the K-12 market. Still, privacy experts and parents here continue to voice serious concerns about the use of fingerprinting technology with young children.
"One of our biggest worries about biometric databases is that if it's compromised, you can never get it back," says Kaprove. "If I lose a password, credit card, or even a Social Security number it can be cancelled and reissued. But a fingerprint or iris scan is unchangeable, which make it, of course, much more valuable to steal."
And for young children, that loss-at such an early age-could have serious consequences. Plus giving permission to store a fingerprint image or iris scan to a software firm can churn concerns about who controls that information.
When Verified Identity Pass filed for bankruptcy in 2009, the firm sold off its assets, including the fingerprints and iris scans of approximately 200,000 customers who had joined its Clear program, which allowed airplane passengers to move quickly through security checkpoints at 20 airports in the U.S.
Alclear LLC, which bought the data, says it's relaunching the program—but has offered to delete digital files of those who no longer wish to be enrolled. "They say if you send us your information, and you want, they'll delete it," says Kaprove. "But you don't know if it's stored somewhere else, such as on another disk."
When personal information that's not replaceable can be sold as an asset from one firm to another, privacy experts say that's enough of a red flag, especially if that data is culled from children.
"They don't have the same ability to consent," says Kaprove. "And if they don't know the implications, it's a large commitment for someone so early."
