Putting your finger on the problem
Post categories: Buckley, Chirk, Connah's Quay, Corwen, Denbigh, Denbighshire, Flint, Flintshire, Holywell, Hot Topics, Llangollen, Mold, Prestatyn, Rhyl, Ruthin, Shotton, St Asaph, Wrexham
| 08:57 UK time, Friday, 14 March 2008
The strength of feeling against the use of biometrics fingerprinting in our schools is growing. In short, it's a cashless system which is supposed to avoid problems - such as children having their dinner money stolen - but some parents are unhappy their child's details are being held on some database somewhere.
Up popped this blog in my feedreader this morning, written by 'A concerned parent who doesn't want her children to live in "1984" type society'.
https://pippaking.blogspot.com/ was following up on the findings of another concerned mum, Sophie McKeand, who told the Evening Leader that, using the Freedom of Information Act she's been able to glean some interesting facts behind the system's introduction at Mold Alun and Elfed High in Buckley.
My son is unhappy with its introduction at Mold Alun, not for any Big Brother-type issues, but to use his words 'It took me 15 minutes to get my thumb working'. Or the time another child's details came up at the canteen till and my son had a prick of conscience when the time came to admit there was a mistake or to cash in on someone else's finger, if you get my drift.
The No2ID lobby has a forum looking at the issue of biometrics and the schemes in Flintshire are among the threads with emotive topics such as My Child forceably fingerprinted.
And there have been a number of e-petitions sent to 10 Downing Street.
With no shortage of concern about the issue, I asked colleagues in the BBC News Team here in the BBC Wrexham office why we hadn't been following the story, and the answer was simple: 'You don't have to use the scheme'
Tags: Biometrics
