LTKA - Your frequently asked questions (against schools fingerprinting our children)

What's your main concern?
We would simply like you to explain the issues and ASK PARENTS before you fingerprint our children in school. After all, until recently, the State only fingerprinted criminals.
Why don't schools just send out opt-in consent slips like for just about everything else?
We don't know! You'll have to make up your own mind on this. It's all we are asking for in our campaign. We don't think this is unreasonable. Schools don't just send out slips where health and safety issues are concerned, after all. But so far we haven't heard of a single school out of more than 3500 using the scheme that's had the courtesy to ask. Some haven't bothered to inform parents at all. Others send out a letter saying "WE HAVE DECIDED" to fingerprint your children.
Why does it all matter, anyway?
Because a library card is something you have; a fingerprint is something you are. And if a fingerprint is stolen, your child may have problems proving who they are for the rest of their life. You can't just change a fingerprint like a PIN number.
So is my child's data safe?
We don't think school is a secure place to perform biometric scans. Clearly they can't afford to use and constantly update the kind of expensive security precautions found in airports and banks. And even though this system doesn't store an actual fingerprint, it does scan an actual fingerprint each time a child uses it to take out a book. Security experts say a hacker could steal your child's prints, by tampering with the hardware or making changes to the software. Once this happens your child could be affected for the rest of their life. You can change a pin number. You can't change your fingerprint.
Is the scheme legal?
Not necessarily. The Information Commissioner has said he's not worried about data protection issues, obviously, since no scans are stored. But there are other very serious worries about whether fingerprinting children WITHOUT PERMISSION, for example whether this is an infringement of their legal right to privacy. "Absent a specific power allowing schools to fingerprint, I'd say they have no power to do it." Stephen Groesz, a partner with the law firm Bindmans.
How many young children are affected?
It's happened in about 3500 primary schools so far. That's at least 3/4 million young children, aged 5 to 11, already fingerprinted. About 20 new schools a week are joining the scheme.
What exactly does all this entail?
The thumbprint technology being introduced into primary school libraries, in a scheme strongly encouraged by the Government, is similar to the identification systems used in US prisons and for the German military.
Some children say they like the scheme. So where's the harm?
You could make a toy atom bomb that lit up and played a tune each time you pressed the red button. But that wouldn't make it acceptable. Many experts feel that one of the effects of this scheme will be to get impressionable young children used to the idea that it's OK to be fingerprinted on demand by authority figures, even librarians and traffic wardens. Just about anybody, in fact.
The Head Teacher tells me this will make the school more efficient
We think it's completely unnecessary, and unjustified, to fingerprint children over library books. It's completely out of proportion to the scale of the problem. Why not just get some of the older children to help with the library? It would make them feel involved and help to develop their social skills and a sense of responsibility.
Schools say it encourages children to read
The only evidence we have seen for this is anecdotal, mostly from the glossy brochures handed out by the salesmen. In a recent press release entitled "biometric solution encourages school library lending" the manufacturers use just one quote from one teacher at one school! As far as we know, no proper independent research has ever been done into this, even though schools have already spent more than £5 million installing these systems.
Have any children objected to this?
Yes, and many are supported by their parents. At our daughter's school, for example one 9 year old told her parents she really didn't want to be fingerprinted, and although they didn't see any harm in it they wrote a letter to the school in support of her views.
The school assures me that this is harmless and has nothing to do with ID cards
So did ours. In a letter to all parents, in fact, in which they accused us of lying. The only trouble is, we didn't suggest it in the first place. Case of an own goal, perhaps?
Children lose things like library cards all the time. Now there's one fewer thing to remember.
Most parents are told, as we were, that it's a straight choice between cumbersome library cards and fingerprints. THIS IS NOT TRUE. The system comes with several other ways to use it. For example, it can print out a sticker that can be fixed on a child's homework book. It can print out an A4 sheet that can be laminated and kept in the library, with details of a whole class. And so on. The fingerprint scanners are an expensive optional extra. The extra money would be better spent on new books. Schools have so far spent at least £1 million just on scanners.
Who else could legally access my child's data?
Under the information-sharing powers contained in the Children Act 2004, teachers, police, GPs and social workers are allowed to access the system and share information on any child, yours included, without your knowledge or consent, whether or not they are regarded as at risk of harm.
So what kind data can the system provide?
According to the brochure, Junior Librarian allows "detailed breakdowns of both stock and borrowing patterns, the latter between any given dates. Statistics can also be produced by ethnicity and the system even has a report specifically designed for school inspections."

(The manufacturer sneakily removed all references to ethnicity from their website just days after we highlighted it on LTKA, but here's one they missed - For details, cut and paste this link into your browser's address window:
http://www.microlib.co.uk/secondary/sec_contents.aspx )
Is anybody making money out of this?
Yes. Private companies are earning millions just from fingerprinting primary school children.
Does the system work well?
We don't know. But the School Library Journal says "while such scanning devices work well with adult fingerprints, they have trouble reading the prints of small children." One parent told us that the system works much faster and more reliably without the fingerprinting module, while another said a friend's son repeatedly gets fines for books he's never had anything to do with. "Ultimately, this is an optional module - the system works perfectly well without it" Andy O'Brien, managing director, Micro Librarian Systems.
Why haven't I read about this in the papers, or seen it on TV?
Because schools have been playing down the strength of opposition, trying to make parents who speak out feel that they are alone. However, some newspapers and TV have picked up the story, though it's yet to go front page.

"Education, Education, Education" Tony Blair (1996) "Consent, Consent, Consent" Concerned parents (2007)

We are campaigning for the widespread use of biometrics in UK schools to be debated in Parliament, strictly regulated and
closely monitored, with statutory requirements for explicit informed parental consent where children's biometrics are taken

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