I was pleased to read in The Argus that Big Brother Watch is joining the Green Party in criticising Hove Park School’s plans for using fingerprint technology for young people to purchase their lunch.
I am supportive of efforts being made to look at barriers to take-up of school meals. However, cashless systems could be implemented more simply and cheaply with a swipe card.
Biometric data has implications for human rights and liberties. Although data is not intended to be shared with the police there are no measures in place to prevent this from happening and potentially biometric data, once gathered, can be stored forever.
When this was examined in 2008 it became clear that many schools abandoned using biometric fingerprinting, partly due to the expense of implementing it.
I would strongly urge Hove Park to reconsider this decision to implement fingerprint technology. The only people to benefit will be the shareholders of companies such as Capita.
Councillor Rachel Fryer, Green Party, Queen’s Park ward, Brighton and Hove City Council
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