Biometrics in the Workplace

Posted by michael on Wednesday January 14, 2004 @12:42AM from the gattaca dept.

ryth writes "The Globe and Mail reports that McDonald's Restaurants and a few other companies in Canada have introduced palm-scanning technologies for employees. Workers are now expected to 'sign' in and out using their palm prints to record the exact time of arrival and the identity of the employee. Quoted in the article Jorn Nordmann, president of S.M. Products, was blunt about why he installed a hand scanner at his fish-processing plant in Delta, B.C. 'If you want to control a whole bunch of people, it's the only way to go.' It seems that some of the most underpaid and undervalued workers are starting to be treated no better than the animals they are frying up." Except for the frying part.

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Not exactly new by taustin · 2004-01-14 04:29 · Score: 0, Flamebait

It's called a "timeclock," and they've been around for a century or so. Palm scanning is new, but employee timecard fraud ("Hey, man, I'm gonna be late for work. Can you punch me in so I don't get my lazy ass fired?") isn't.

The reason those "underpaid and undervalued workers" are underpaid and undervalued workers is because most of them can't can't hold down a better job.