On the surface, this sounds like a good idea.
The Pinellas school system is ready to approve a new technology that uses student fingerprints to keep track of who is riding school buses.
Beginning in the fall, the fingerprint system would identify students as they board and leave. The goal is to ensure they are getting on the right bus and getting off at the right stop.
There will also be a GPS unit in the system, which will allow the district to track where the buses are, where they've been, and how long it is taking to drive the routes. However, the potential for abuse of the fingerprint system is significant, not to mention the implications of any tracking system of this kind:
"This is probably a really good idea, but in my mind it was just this terrible feeling, like they're watching my kids wherever they go," said Nancy McKibben, mother of three teenagers at Palm Harbor University High School and president of the school's PTSA.
Critics say programs of this nature raise significant privacy concerns and teach students at a young age to accept what amounts to a "Big Brother" surveillance society.
"We are conditioning these children to understand that they have no personal space, no personal privacy," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Program on Technology and Liberty.
When I read the last paragraph in this next excerpt, my first impression was to go "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
[Michelle Bianco] thinks a fingerprint system would be a good idea. Not only would it prevent children from getting lost, she said she has no qualms about her children's privacy being compromised.
"I wouldn't be concerned about a privacy issue, because I know the School Board is very concerned about not letting anyone get hold of that information," she said.
On second thought, the board probably is very concerned. However, that concern has the potential to be overridden for any number of reasons. Not least of which is:
Superintendent Howard Hinesely said the district also plans to apply for a federal Homeland Security grant that could reimburse some of the cost.
No comments:
Post a Comment