Biometrics in schools have been used worldwide since the early first decade of the 21st century to address truancy, to replace library cards, or to charge for meals. School biometrics, typically electronic fingerprinting systems, have raised privacy concerns because of the creation of databases that would progressively include the entire population.
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Many schools have implemented fingerprint locks or registered children's fingerprints. In the UK biometrics in schools have been largely used for library book issue, but are increasingly being used for cashless catering systems, enabling parents to deposit money into students catering accounts, to be debited by a child's biometric fingerscan at the point of sale. Biometric technology for registration is also used in the UK. In the USA biometrics systems are used primarily for catering, as mentioned above, with library and registration biometrics in use also. Fingerprint locking systems happened in the United Kingdom (fingerprint lock in the Holland Park School in London,[1]) databases, etc., in Belgium (école Marie-José in Liège [2][3]), in France, in Italy, etc. There has been recent discussion surrounding the biometrics in the uk and the general public have been misinformed about what is actually stored after a print is registered. There is no print stored, merely a series of digits ( some 30 ) that the computer is able to store to a pupil/person. It is impossible to reconstruct a finger print from this useless series of numbers.
In 2002 the NGO Privacy International has alerted that tens of thousands of UK school children were being fingerprinted by schools, often without the knowledge or consent of their parents [4]. In 2002, the supplier Micro Librarian Systems, which use a technology similar to US prisons and German military, estimated that 350 schools through-out Britain were using such systems, to replace library cards [4]. In 2007, it was estimated that 3,500 schools (ten times more) are using such systems [5]. By 2009 the number of children fingerprinted was estimated to be two million [6].
Under the Data Protection Act (DPA), schools in the UK do not have to ask parental consent for such practices. Parents opposed to such practices may only bring individual complaints against schools [7]. Concerns have been raised about the civil liberties implications of fingerprinting children in schools [8]. In 2007 Early Day Motion 686, which called on the UK Government to conduct a full and open consultation with stakeholders about the use of biometrics in schools, secured the support of 85 Members of Parliament [9].
In response to a complaint which they are continuing to pursue, in 2010 the European Commission expressed 'significant concerns' over the proportionality and necessity of the practice and the lack of judicial redress, indicating that the practice may break the European Union data protection directive.[10]
The alleged use of taking children's fingerprints is to struggle against school truancy and/or to replace library cards or money for meals by fingerprint locks. In Belgium, this practice gave rise to a question in Parliament on February 6, 2007 by Michel de La Motte (Humanist Democratic Centre) to the Education Minister Marie Arena, who replied that they were legal insofar as the school did not use them for external purposes nor to survey the private life of children [11]. Such practices have also been used in France (Angers, Carqueiranne college in the Var — the latter won the Big Brother Award of 2005 for its hand geometry system, etc.) although the CNIL, official organism in charge of protection of privacy, has declared them "disproportionate." [12]. The CNIL, however, declared in 2002 hand geometry systems to be acceptable.
The first reported use of biometric systems in U.S. schools was at Minnesota's Eagan High School in September 1999.[13] Eagan High School, a testing ground for education technology since it opened, allowed willing students to use fingerprint readers to speed up the borrowing of library books.
Penn Cambria School District in Cresson, PA was another earlier user of biometric technology.[14] In 2000, Food Service Solutions, a local software development company, designed and implemented a system where students bought lunch with just a fingerprint. The American Civil Liberties Union stated that this"could hasten the end of privacy rights"[15]
Biometric systems were first used in schools in the UK in 2001. Use of this technology in schools is now widespread, though there are currently no official figures for how many schools employ the technology.[16]
Biometric technologies in schools are used to borrow library books, for cashless canteen systems, vending machines, class attendance and payments into schools. Biometric technologies for home/school bus journeys are also under development.[17]
The most common misconception about fingerprint systems is that they are thought to store a fingerprint image or other biometric information, which calls into question legal and data protection concerns. However these systems actually work by running key features of the fingerprint through a complicated encryption algorithm. This produces a result which cannot be "reverse engineered" to produce any biometric or image information.
This means the data kept on file can only be used to verify an identity against another scan through the same system, the information would be effectively useless to police and 3rd parties.[18]
Primarily the type of biometric employed is a fingerprint scan or thumbprint scan but vein and iris scanning systems are also in use.[19][20]
Biometric systems can be used by children as young as three years old.[21]
The two countries at the forefront employing biometric technology in schools are the UK and the USA. Biometric systems are also used in some schools in Belgium[22] and Sweden[23] but were withdrawn from China and Hong Kong schools due to privacy concerns.[24] It was reported in August 2007 that Dubai are soon due to issue guidance to schools.[25]
Concerns about the security implications of using conventional biometric templates in schools have been raised by a number of leading IT security experts, including Kim Cameron, architect of identity and access in the connected systems division at Microsoft, who cites research by Cavoukian and Stoianov to back up his assertion that "it is absolutely premature to begin using 'conventional biometrics' in schools".[26][27]
Biometric vendors claim benefits to schools such as improved reading skills, decreased wait times in lunch lines and increased revenues.[28] They do not cite independent research to support this. Educationalist Dr. Sandra Leaton Gray of Homerton College, Cambridge stated in early 2007 that "I have not been able to find a single piece of published research which suggests that the use of biometrics in schools promotes healthy eating or improves reading skills amongst children... There is absolutely no evidence for such claims".[29]
http://www.trust-e.co.uk/information-for-parents/page-14
The following laws, legal opinions, or guidance are in place to regulate children's use of biometric technology. To date the practise of using biometrics in schools is only legally regulated in the USA: