Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Fingerprint Requirement For a Work-Study Job?

Posted by timothy on from the dept-of-double-speak-is-closed-please-come-in dept.

BonesSB writes "I'm a student at a university in Massachusetts, where I have a federal work-study position. Yesterday, I got an email from the office that is responsible for student run organizations (one of which I work for) saying that I need to go to their office and have my fingerprints taken for the purposes of clocking in and out of work. This raises huge privacy concerns for me, as it should for everybody else. I am in the process of contacting the local newspaper, getting the word out to students everywhere, and talking directly to the office regarding this. I got an email back with two very contradictory sentences: 'There will be no image of your fingerprints anywhere. No one will have access to your fingerprints. The machine is storing your prints as a means of identifying who you are when you touch it.' Does anybody else attend a school that requires something similar? This is an obvious slippery slope, and something I am not taking lightly. What else should I do?"

10 of 578 comments (clear)

  1. Non-issue? by Fastolfe · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've used biometric scanners like this in the past. Whatever it stores to recognize your fingerprint never leaves the machine. I don't know if that's what's going on here, but it seems perfectly reasonable.

    1. Re:Non-issue? by martin-boundary · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not sure what `safe` has to do with anything, unless you think you're likely to catch swine flu from touching a fingerprint reader or something.

      Safety means you won't get your finger chopped off by someone who wants to impersonate you to enter the building.

      Safety (for people) is higher when there's no biometric system in place, becaus the bad guys don't have an incentive to chop their fingers off or gouge out their eyes.

  2. What else should I do? by NfoCipher · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Start looking for another job..

    --
    I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am.
    1. Re:What else should I do? by johnlcallaway · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I agree .. if you don't like it .. don't do it. No one is forcing you to. Others may not have the same concerns and would be more than happy to do that job, so I'm sure it won't bother them too much.

      I used to work at a job that required using an id card to clock in and out. If you left it at home it was a huge hassle to get a temporary id card. Forget it too many times and they started to take disciplinary action. I'd rather use my fingerprint to 'clock in' than try and remember to bring my id card every day when the only function of that card was to clock in and out.

      --
      I rarely read replies, it's my opinion and if you thought about your opinion a little more, I'm OK with that.
  3. No contradiction. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I checked into these before. The scanner records a description of your fingerprint, not the image. The description is used to match. It's a form of message digestion.

    Most scanners of this type do not even record enough detail to qualify as evidence. Those that do must have their data shared with law enforcement, making them a hard sell as a biometric time card.

  4. It's like storing a hash. by HiggsBison · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Apparently what it is storing is a statistical summary of the biometric information (if that's not redundant). It doesn't store the fingerprints themselves anymore than an operating system will store your password. With the password, whatever you type in has to have a hash which matches the hash associated with your account. With the scanner, the summary generated each time you plop your hand on the scanner has to match (to a significant degree) the summary on file.

    But, yes, if someone finds your fingerprints somewhere else, and they have access to this data, they can be reasonably certain it is you.

    --
    My other car is a 1984 Nark Avenger.
  5. It's all stupid, and for stupid reasons by gerf · · Score: 5, Informative

    Apparently if you visit Brazil, Europeans and Brazilians go through one line. Americans, we can all step over here to get fingerprinted, retina scanned, etc.

    Why? We do it to them, so they do it back. F.

    1. Re:It's all stupid, and for stupid reasons by aylons · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yes, that is right. This is due to Brazilian Constitution, which says that all diplomacy must be reciprocal. E.g., for every country which demands a visa from Brazilian people, Brazil demands a visa for their people to get in Brazil. If the government, the Federal Police or the airport authority decides to do any different, they will get sued.

      --
      This comment may contain speech figures. Reader discretion is advised.
  6. Re:I recommend... by Blakey+Rat · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Humor me:

    How much information about you is encoded in your fingerprint, exactly?

    If someone gained access to your fingerprint could they, for example, empty your bank account? Take out a loan in your name? Give me an example here.

    --
    Comment of the year
  7. Re:They could go even further... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This leads to the principle flaw of biometrics: If someone manages to reproduce the key (synthetic fingerprint for example), there is no way to issue a different key to the owner of the original. Anywhere you authenticate with a fingerprint, the people who control the system can gather all information which is needed to create a fake fingerprint, plus there are countless other ways to get a person's fingerprint, and you still only have that one set of fingerprints that you can't change. What are you going to do then?