p2pnet news | Freedom:- The 29th International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners was held in Montréal, Quebec, at the end of last month with Privacy Horizons: Terra Incognita as the theme.

As privacy guardians enter “uncharted territory,” said Canada’s Privacy Commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, the challenge is to, “anticipate and plan our readiness to tackle the ‘unknowns’ in our field.”

Yet, “despite a dizzying array of panels on new technologies such as ubiquitous computing, radio frequency identification devices, and nanotechnology, it was a reference by US Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff to a simple fingerprint that struck the strongest chord,” noted Dr Michael Geist, Canada research chair in internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa.

He went on:

Canada last hosted the conference in 1996 and it quickly became apparent that privacy has become virtually unrecognizable in the intervening eleven years. The technological challenges were on display throughout the event including eye-opening presentations on the privacy impact of popular children’s websites such as Webkinz and Neopets, on genetic innovation that is pushing the boundaries of science without regard for privacy, and on the continual shift toward tiny devices that can be used to collect and disclose personal information.

With that as a backdrop, “The lunch lines weren’t moving fast enough for Linda Stoll,” head of food programs at the Boulder Valley, Colorado, school district, says the story in Time.

So she began looking for ways to speed things up and, discovering some students, especially kindergarteners, couldn’t remember the six-digit ID number they’re required to type into keypads at the end of lunch lines, she hit on an answer:

Fingerprint the kids so a biometric scanner could identify them.

But it wasn’t as easy as that with dozens of parents raising concerns about privacy, says story, going on, “Many mentioned identity theft. Others expressed fear that immigrant children might be unfairly tracked by government.”

So Stoll’s fingerprint plan was scrapped.

However, adds Time:

Elementary and high school students in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and West Virginia use finger scans to pay for lunch – and even to check into class. But in many other states, the parental outcry about privacy has stopped the technology in its tracks. Michigan and Iowa have passed laws essentially barring schools from taking electronic fingerprints of children. Last month, Illinois enacted a law requiring schools to get parental consent before capturing an image of a child’s finger.

Generally, student information collected by schools is protected by the federal government’s privacy laws. So schools can’t simply give away information gleaned from a student’s fingerprint. Still, many parents and privacy law experts remain anxious about records accessible to companies managing a school’s computer system — and whether that information can moved if that company is ever sold.

Meanwhile, Stoll hasn’t given up and still hopes to introduce fingerprint scanning in her schools.
“I’m just disappointed our parents wouldn’t let us be on the forefront of this technology,” Time has her saying.

Slashdot it!

 

Also See:
a simple fingerprint – Privacy: Terra Not Incognita, October 2, 2007
Webkinz – Curse of the Webkinz, July 13, 2007
Neopets- Neopets reloaded, September 23, 2004
Time – Should Schools Fingerprint Your Kids?, September 25, 2004

 

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