>> 10 Things You Should Know About Schools Fingerprinting Children <<

• "I asked my two daughters after reading your site and was told that they too had been thumb printed a while back which they had not bothered to tell me about in a regular 'what did you do today' session because as they said 'it was not to do with school work....' I am contacting the school about this and can't wait for September to really get stuck in..." Concerned parent, Lincolnshire (Jul 2006)

• "I am 15 years old. Having been alerted myself to the implications that fingerprinting may have on my future, I am infuriated that my school did not a) ask my parents for their consent or b) make me or other students aware of the risks when they fingerprinted us all two years ago.Concerned pupil, via email (Aug 2006)

• "I live in Preston, Lancashire and was disturbed by the front page article of my local newspaper that 3 local primary schools had introduced this system. I raised this issue with my 13 year old daughter and was horrified when she informed me that her secondary school had been using this since she first started. At no point had parental consent been sought. I will be contacting the headteacher and the County Council this week." Concerned Parent, Lancashire (Sep 2006)

• "My children's primary school recently installed these library systems requiring a fingerprint. We had no prior knowledge of its purchase or any other details. We were only informed after the fact. I am very concerned about this and the breach of their human rights." Concerned Parent, Leicesteshire (Oct 2006)

• "My son came home yesterday with a note telling us that the DfES approved 'Junior Librarian' system is now in place. No consent has been asked for, and neither has there been any way given to appeal this." Concerned Parent, Hampshire (Oct 2006)

• "My oldest daughter's been printed at school without my knowledge. I'm livid over it. I went to my other daughter's school, and they use a card system. Staff there were shocked that the other school hadn't notified parents, at least." Concerned parent, Dorset (Oct 2006)

• "Without providing a fingerprint children are also prevented from using the PCs to do their home work (for which they are threatened with detention if they miss). As parents we where not consulted on fingerprinting, but luckily my son refused, for which we give full backing." Concerned Parent, Flintshire (Oct 2006)

• "For you information, our child's school has spent more than £1000 on kit to fingerprint kids in its library (so they don't need a library card, apparently!). This happened over the summer, and we received a note asking our 'permission', which we did not return, but our child has been fingerprinted anyway." Concerned Parent, Buckinghamshire (Oct 2006)

• "I was recently told by a friend that her children had had their fingerprints taken at school and were 'bemused ' by it as they thought it was only criminals who had this done, she of course was appalled as no one had contacted her and it was the first she had heard of it ,and questioned whether it was actually legal! I think it is time the public knew what is going on without their knowledge." Concerned parent, Hampshire (Oct 2006)

• "My son is 14 years old. His school has been fingerprinting for the Library since 2001. He was fingerprinted in Year 7 without my knowledge or consent. I am very interested in taking this further - my son has been deregistered from the school in question." Concerned parent, via email (Oct 2006)

• "When I heard St Matthew's was going to fingerprint us I was shocked as I thought Mr.Davies [head teacher] would not let us be fingerprinted as a libary system, why not use cards? It gives the students responsibility. Isn't it obvious that it could fall into the wrong hands. And as for not asking permission, it's outrageous!" Concerned pupil, aged 10, Cambridgeshire (Jul 2006)

• "Very few parents I've spoken to were aware about what was going on." Concerned Parent, St Matthew's Primary School, Cambridge (Jun 2006)

• "I have just discovered that my 14 year old son is required to provide a thumbprint to access his school library resources and as with every other parent in the country I was not consulted. I am furious but thanks to sites like yours I feel that my anger is not only justified but extremely necessary." Concerned parent, Bristol (Jul 2006)

• "I couldn't protect my child. I feel so guilty. I didn't get the school's letter." Concerned Parent, Chesterton Community College, Cambs (Jun 2006)

• "My child was fingerprinted without my knowledge or consent - I am deeply shocked at his School's outrageous behaviour." Concerned parent, Hertfordshire (Sep 2006)

• "My daughter's school have introduced thumb scanning registration with effect from 12 September 2006, yet my permission has not been obtained. My daughter is a well respected student not only by her peers, but also by her teachers and she has a good attendance record. She does not wish to be scanned and I totally agree with her." Concerned parent, Surrey (Sep 2006)

• "My grandson has been fingerprinted without the parents knowledge. The Head claims he has the right to do this legally which I most sincerely disagree with. The authorities are hiding behind the fact that there is not a specific law which states they cannot do it and when it comes to trial by law they will then plead ignorance. My grandson has now left the school so I want to know what is going to happen to those records." Concerned grandparent, via email (Sep 2006)

• "Sadly a familiar story. Last week i found out my ten year old son had been fingerprinted at school last term. They are now fingerprinting from five upwards. I went into the school and stood over the computer and made the Head Teacher and Librarian delete all information on my son. Since then i have spread the word both in the playground and at work, this has been quite a feat as i am a ward sister and have been busy contacting all the staff with kids i know in the community bases throughout Herts.I then contacted the local paper who kindly printed the story." Concerned parent, Hertfordshire (Sep 2006)

• "Just to let you know my two teenage sons in year 11 were fingerprinted today, I knew nothing about it until they told me. It's incredible, I will ring them and ask for an explanation tomorrow." Concerned parent, via email (Sep 2006)

• "I was apalled that the trust and ignorance of vulnerable young people could so easily be exploited with no requirement for parental consent or proper explanation of the systems involved!"" Concerned Parent, Northamptonshire (Jul 2006)

• "I think it was pretty dishonest of them to introduce this system without giving parents longer warning and more information about it." Concerned Parent, St Matthew's Primary School, Cambridge (Jun 2006)

• "Fingerprinting took place in my daughter's school today without my knowledge or consent. When it came to her turn to be fingerprinted my daughter refused to get up off of her seat, telling her science teacher that she will not be bullied. A voice came over the school loudspeaker system, informing the whole school that a child had refused to get it done and my daughter had to sit there fighting for her principles whilst other children were laughing at her, But she stood her ground and good on her." "Last week I had gone to the school and spoken to them regarding biometric finger and face scanning, They were unable to tell me anything at the school that day apart from saying 'yeah its here yeah its coming whether you like it or not'. I was also assured that they would be holding a meeting for worried parents like me, and that they would let me know when this meeting would be taking place."

  "I told them that whatever happens I don't want my child anywhere near it. After what happened today I am very disappointed with the school's actions. I thought that this government have a strict policy on school bullying, My daughter is not a terrorist or a criminal and her rights have been taken away from her." Concerned parent, Wandsworth, London (Sep 2006)

• "I passed on your email to Jane and Roger. Anna their eldest daughter is, I think, going into year 10 in Sept and Sophie their youngest is starting at [the same] High School (where Anna is) in Sept. Jane was concerned about the whole fingerprinting thing and then her jaw dropped when Anna piped up that she had been fingerprinted. Jane was livid, to say the least, and will insist on Sophie having the alternate barcode system and is going to strongly complain to the school about Anna being fingerprintined without her consent - so at least if she has your legal advice if/when the school come back with their reasons for fingerprinting Anna, Jane is more informed to reply back to them." Concerned parent, Humberside (Jul 2006) (names changed by LTKA to protect their privacy)

• "My seven-year-old son's fingerprints were taken before I was even informed about the school's intention to do so. He was told that he had 'good thumbs' when the data collection was successful. As an encouragement, the successful prints came up with smiley faces to reward him."

  "The school was good enough to delete the prints, at my request, in my presence. There is every possibility, however, that there is a copy presently with the police and on a backup system somewhere."

  "I am appalled that a child that is young enough to need this kind of encouragement is considered old enough to give his consent. In my opinion, when he is old enough to vote he will be old enough to give his consent. That way, if he disagrees with the State's nationwide collection of our childrens' fingerprints he can vote them out. As it is, he doesn't even know what the Government is." Concerned Parent, via email (Oct 2006)

• [My son] informed me that he has had his fingerprints and photo taken at school for the new door entry systems etc. I rang the school and spoke to the Head Teacher's PA, I was told that a letter went out to inform us of this being done. When I asked if it was put in the post or via pupils she didn't know."

  "I feel really angry that this was done without [proper] consultation. If I take my son to hospital for treatment he has to have consent, if the police want an interview, they need consent so why is this different? And why photos as well?"

  "Are they within their rights to do this? What happens if there is a breach of security? When he leaves school what happens to his information... so much for a free country and innocent until proven guilty!!" Parent, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex (Jul 2006)

• "After receiving the email from your website from a concerned friend, I could not believe what I was reading, this is a total infringement on our children's rights and parents rights. I forwarded the email on to others."

  "I decided to ask my 9 year old daughter and nieces of the same age whether they had this done to them in school. my daughter told me this had. I thought that our county of Manchester England would never consent to this .... Boy was I wrong!"

  "She told me not only did they fingerprint her and the rest of the school, it was carried out in a fashion that was like 'cyberspace' to them, the kids thought this was great and felt like high tech astronauts. they actually made light of this, and the way I see it they concealed the true reason."

  "I really take this personally and I feel that they have tricked us all, for their own reasons, which I believe is not for the library at all as they told our kids."

  "I am incensed that they had not asked for our permission first. If they had I would not have given consent. What is wrong with a card or PIN system or secret password - that's more fun to the kids."

  "They have also done this in my elder daughter's school (and she is 14!!) so the excuse cannot be used that they will lose their cards or forget their PIN number."

  "My younger daughter has in fact changed school since this happened back at her old school 3 years previously. I will be approaching her old school when new term begins, forewarning her new school in September, and informing parents so they can be vigilant."

  "...after all if our children were arrested the police would need our consent for fingerprinting them, and this would be the only case." Concerned Parent, Manchester, via email (Aug 2006)

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• Very disturbingly, the Information Commissioner has distanced himself from the legal issue of whether schools have a duty to even inform parents that they are fingerprinting children as young as 5 entrusted to their care.
  "The Commissioner accepts the introduction of such a system may be regarded as a sensitive issue and would suggest schools inform parents of their intention to introduce such a system. However, a failure by the school to [do so] would not necessarily represent a contravention of the Data Protection Act 1998." Suzanne McKay, casework and advice officer to the Information Commissioner, quoted in The Guardian, March 30, 2006

"Education, Education, Education" Tony Blair     "Consent, Consent, Consent" Parents

We are campaigning to have the widespread use of biometrics in schools debated in Parliament, and henceforth strictly regulated and closely monitored, with a statutory requirement for explicit parental consent wherever biometrics are used.

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