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Thumbprints Used To Check Books Out of School Library
krou writes "Junior students at Higher Lane Primary in Whitefield, Greater Manchester, are in a trial of a system that uses their thumbprints to check out and return books from a library. The thumbprints are 'digitally transformed into electronic codes, which can then be recognized by a computer program.' The system was developed by Microsoft, and is being trialled elsewhere in the country. NO2ID condemned the system, saying it was appalling, and that 'It conditions children to hand over sensitive personal information.' The headmaster has defended the scheme, saying, 'We have researched this scheme thoroughly. It is a biometric recognition system and no image of a fingerprint is ever stored. It is a voluntary system. The thumbprint creates a mathematical template. All parents have been written to and we have told them what the system is all about. From the responses we have had there has been overwhelming support. We hold a lot of information about children because we are a school. This is no different.'"
you mean your kids aren't shaved bald coated in a latex suit? Just think of all that sensitive DNA they are leaving everywhere they go!
the preceding post was not spell checked... suck it.
The risk that someone will cut off a junior schoolchild's thumb in order to check out a library book seems to lie within acceptable bounds.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
You just have no idea how cruel kids can be...
"I'm fairly certain there's a hidden agenda here. They say it is a voluntary system, but what they mean is that privacy conscious students won't have access to the library. Libraries hold books. Books hold information. Information leads to knowledge. Knowledge is power."
I'm fairly certain that Yoda has a schizophrenic brother.
How can we be sure there isn't some perv getting off to our children's mathematical templates?
UTF-8: There and Back Again
Privacy nut: "They are keeping records of all your private information, all your biometric data. We need to stop this!"
Me: "Your voice is private biometric data. So shut up."
Back when I was in elementary school, all you did was pull a card out of the pocket in the front of the book, write your name and room number on it and drop it in a box. There was no "system" because computers were hugely expensive, not to mention being the size of a pickup truck back then. The librarian knew us all by name and if a book wasn't returned on time, she'd come looking for us in class.
Now, get off my lawn--it's time for Matlock.
This ain't rocket surgery.
Back when I was in elementary school we wrote cuneiform on clay tablets. Gilgamesh was always checked out, although there was a lot of debate as to whether it was suitable for a school to have.
It's either false dichotomies, or the terrorists win, you decide.
"My gummy bear owns the membership, but he's disabled and I'm his method of transport.".
which is totally what she said
Biometrics wont stop identity theft.
It just means that when you're compromized you need new eyeballs and a finger-transplant :-p