Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Iris Scans Are the New School IDs

Posted by timothy on from the sir-your-frog-is-boiling-even-as-we-speak dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Winthrop University in South Carolina is testing out iris scanning technology during freshman orientation this summer. Students had their eyes scanned as they received their ID cards in June. 'Iris scanning has a very high level of accuracy, and you don't have to touch anything, said James Hammond, head of Winthrop University's Information Technology department. 'It can be hands free security.'" I wouldn't want to be locked out a building because of a scratched lens or a system outage, though.

15 of 217 comments (clear)

  1. How would that be different... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    from being locked out due to a broken/lost/defective key/card/etc in any other building access system...?????

    1. Re:How would that be different... by MacGyver2210 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think the first thing I would do, then, is to opt to use a 'disabled' alternative. My iris pattern is not something I am willing to provide to the school under any circumstances, along with my fingerprints, retinal map, and a number of other biometric options.

      If they need something beyond an ID with RFID, QR code, or a magstripe, they need to provide some pretty fucking compelling reasons for me to go along with it.

      --
      If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can't be taken on its own merits
    2. Re:How would that be different... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      from being locked out due to a broken/lost/defective key/card/etc in any other building access system...?????

      You can replace keys/cards if somebody else gets the numbers off them and uses them for other activities.

      Now stop trolling.

  2. School full of stupid kids? by superdave80 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The reader will beep if they're on the right bus and honk if they're on the wrong one.

    Or you could teach them to read the numbers on the side of the bus, but that's just my zany, wacky idea. Or are the kids too stupid to get on the exact same numbered bus day after day?

    1. Re:School full of stupid kids? by cervesaebraciator · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Besides, we still have human beings driving the buses, do we not? These same humans are charged with remembering the route to and location of each student's home. I should hope they'd also be able to recognize the student at sight.

    2. Re:School full of stupid kids? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That part's harder than you think. I drove two busloads of kids a day with 50+ kids. I knew where the stops were, but it took me a few weeks to start getting familiar who was getting on and off where, still it would have been easy to sneak an extra person or less people- plus people are absent, have approval to bring home a friend, etc. We do our best, but there's no way I'm going to learn 100+ kids faces that I see for at most about 30 seconds a day as they get on and off to the point I'd know exactly who gets on and off at each stop and their names/faces.

  3. What are we doing to our children? by Presto+Vivace · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We are conditioning them to live in a police state.

    1. Re:What are we doing to our children? by cervesaebraciator · · Score: 1, Insightful

      This is why industrialists have promoted public education systems since their inception in this country (and, incidentally, why they promoted prohibition last century). It's not just philanthropy. Institutionalization leads to a more docile worker.

    2. Re:What are we doing to our children? by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That is such bullshit. Public education leads to more workers full stop - that's why industrialists promoted public education.

      The whole brainwashing/docile/pod-people crap is just conspiracy theory gone wild.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
  4. So when someone steals... by MasseKid · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So when someone steals credentials, how do you change your "password"?

  5. Re: lol wut? by alen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You can share ID cards, but how do you share eyes between people?

  6. Again, biometrics are not good for authentication. by LeifOfLiberty · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Biometrics are good for surveillance but not for authentication. A good authentication method supports revocation of an identification key, such as would be needed in the event of its compromise. It should not be trusted as a factor in authentication either, for the same reason. Great for theater though I suppose. Article about it here growingliberty.com/thumbs-down-for-fingerprint-identification

  7. What exactly is the security issue? by FuzzNugget · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What exactly is the security issue that's significant enough to warrant such extreme and invasive measures? Is it such a prestigious institution that there are hoards of non-registered kids trying to sneak in? Is there a problem with rampant crime or extremely bad behaviour? What possible real reason could they have, other than, "hey, we got funding for this fancy new tech!" or conditioning them to the future of a police state?

  8. Re:Another reason by rubycodez · · Score: 3, Insightful

    nice going, those jerks will have spawn but you won't, so you've contributed to the decline of the species.

  9. Hold on! by Loki_666 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why is everyone discussion the actual method, and not mentioning why the hell any sort of security system is needed in the first place?

    Ok, maybe i'm going to sound like an old fart here, but when i was a kid school doors were only locked overnight. Otherwise it was open access. Not sure how it is in the UK these days, maybe they are also becoming scaredy cats like the 'muricans. I'm now in Russia and our kids' nursery didn't lock the doors either, they go to private school now, and while the door isn't locked we do have a security guard at the entrance, but i'm pretty sure that is more to stop people coming in and nicking stuff rather than protection of/from the children.

    Why do i think this is only about control and security theatre? Making sure he kids actually attend? Hell, when i was at school it was normal to occasionally skive off school but the class register would show your absence anyway. If kids are not attending then its time to have a word with the parents.