Posts tagged fingerprint
Children, 4, ‘to be fingerprinted to borrow school books from library’
Children as young as four could be fingerprinted to take out books from a school library.
Students in Manchester are having their thumbprints digitally transformed into electronic codes, which can then be recognised by a computer program.
Under the scheme, pupils swipe a bar code inside the book they want borrow then press their thumb on to a scanner to authorise the loan. Books are returned in the same way.
The scheme is being trialled on junior classes at Higher Lane Primary in Whitefield, Bury, Greater Manchester.
Officials confirmed it is due to be extended to all pupils at the school, one of the areas largest primary schools, with 453 pupils aged four to 11.
School authorities defended the scheme on Thursday, and moved to reassure parents that the voluntary system, is heavily encrypted or coded and that no images of fingerprints would be stored.
But critics said they were “appalled” at the system, developed by Microsoft which is also being trialled in other parts of the country.
“This is quite clearly appalling,” said Phil Booth, national coordinator of NO2ID, a privacy campaign group.
“For such a trivial issue as taking out of library books the taking of fingerprints is way over the top and wrong.
“It conditions children to hand over sensitive personal information.”
He added: “The money for such a system could be spent on actual school resources. How about some more books for the library instead?
“This needs to be rolled back or stopped. I would argue there is no justification for such a scheme.
But Lesley Isherwood, the school headmaster, defended the system, saying it was introduced as a more efficient way of books being borrowed from the recently renovated library.
She confirmed it would be extended to all pupils, adding that parents would be given the choice to opt in or out.
“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,” she said.
“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.”
She added: “We hold a lot of information about children because we are a school. This is no different.”
All pupils’ details are erased when they leave school.
It comes after schemes to fingerprint children as part of payment for their school dinners was introduced around the country.
(Source: telegraph.co.uk)
Workers being fingerprinted to and from toilet & breaks
Bosses finger printing scan all staff at Qantas, Dan Murphy’s, Breville and Unomedical
FINGERPRINT scanners are being used to monitor workers’ hours and lunch breaks, with some businesses using the technology to dock employees’ pay if they are late.
Workers at Qantas, Dan Murphy’s, Breville and Unomedical are among those using the new system, called PeopleKey, which clocks employees in and out.
The scanners register workers’ fingerprint and records the time they start and finish.
The information can be forwarded to payroll offices and employees can be penalised if they are caught arriving late or slacking off.
A Dan Murphy’s spokesman said it used the system to monitor staff at its liquor stores, but said employees were not docked for a few minutes’ tardiness.
“Staff who are significantly late may have the time deducted from their pay or, at the manager’s discretion, can choose to make up the time,” a spokesman said.
“Like many major retailers, Dan Murphy’s has found electronic clocking in and out to be a reliable method of recording staff hours, as well as enabling store managers to know which team members are on site for health and safety purposes.”
A similar fingerprint system will be rolled out at RailCorp by the middle of next year as part of a trade-off for pay rises in last year’s enterprise agreement negotiations.
“RailCorp plans to introduce an electronic time capture and payment process for all employees,” a spokesman said.
“When it is in place, staff will verify their attendance by way of a swipe card and finger scan. The scans themselves are stored as mathematical algorithms rather than images.
“This initiative will streamline and simplify our time and attendance processes, eventually eliminating the need for staff to manually record their time at work on paper timesheets or in attendance books.
“This will result in reduced administration requirements and more accurate payments to staff.”
Head of PeopleKey, Frank Bruce, said he has many Australian clients who use the technology to stop employees recording false start or finish times and “buddy punching”, when workmates clock on for colleagues.
“In some instances employees are not honest and some businesses have problems monitoring attendance,” he said.
“We have had cases where businesses have saved $100,000 by using the service. We have about 1500 installations in Australia.
“Most clients use the time and attendance product.”
