Personally I feel this is the“Big Brother” syndrome at its worst. It is brainwashing young people to learn to accept that it is normal to have everything you do to be recorded, scrutinised and studied by the authorities and the establishment. I can imagine it being a bit of fun to an eleven/twelve/thirteen year old to walk up and press a finger or palm to a screen and order your lunch from a screen selection especially if it shows a view of the fingerprint.
What I find alarming is the that The Information Commissioner’s Office, an august body supposedly there to enforce an individual’s information rights, has come out in favour of this by stating “ the use of the system in schools taught pupils that giving personal information to those in authority was perfectly mundane and routine”.
“perfectly mundane and routine”?
I find it anything but“perfectly mundane and routine” as an adult to have my fingerprints taken never mind as a teenager. Can you imagine the scene as an officer of the establishment such as a policeman or an official of the council or government walks up and says to that pupil five or ten years later and says; “It is alright you had this at school for your dinners I have to take your ‘prints. You know it is harmless, you know it makes sense.”
In 2010 Azra Haque, a teacher in Brent, London stated: “Today’s children are in general much more closely monitored than previous generations. We need a strong and explicit law in this regard.”
In England secondary and primary schools have been collecting fingerprint, retina and facial scans from pupils as young as four to enable schools to record pupil’s behavioural patterns. The Department for Education records show that about 30% of secondary schools and around 5% of primary schools use fingerprinting, face scanning technology for assessing attendance, borrowing library books, pay and choose school meals and to access areas of the school.
This comment came after an outcry by the parents of Capital City Academy in Brent North London which without any consultation with any parent of the pupils frog marched pupils who did not wish to have their fingerprints taken and forced them to have them taken.
One mother said: 'My son was frogmarched by one of the teachers to be fingerprinted even though he did not want to.”
In December 2012 the Secretary of State, Michael Gove’s, Department announced that from September 2013 schools will be forced to obtain parental permission before taking any fingerprints. Of course a Tory would support any system that allows recording of a person’s personal details. I notice there was no debate in the House of Commons regarding the rights and wrongs regarding an individual’s right to stop this and how it may affect their civil liberties.
It is good to know that it needs a government Act of Parliament for a parent to have the right to decide whether their child can be fingerprinted, have a facial, iris and retina image taken at school.
Oh, the ban will also cover the use of face recognition as well as iris and retina scanning. I love the way the politicians matter of factly accept without discussion that one has to “opt out” of these procedures rather than have a consultation period with the parents and pupils involved in this.
Schools minister David Laws said: 'Many parents do not want schools and colleges collecting personal information from their children without permission.
'These tough new rules will mean that, for the first time, parents will have the power to stop schools from using their child's biometric data - like fingerprinting or facial recognition - unless they agree first.'
I feel I should leave the last comment to the head teacher of the Acland BurghleyAcademy, Jo Armitage who wrote in the school newsletter “Our current system needs replacing and we have the opportunity to make the payment much more secure, efficient and cost-effective.”
Mctaggart
No comments:
Post a Comment