subject: Parents prepare to sue fingerprint grabbers posted: Sat, 07 Oct 2006 16:30:30 +0100
[Strange. I'm sure I read from a reputable source that children's
fingreprints are at best, unreliable, as only adults possess the oils
on the fingertips that make fingerprints readable. My big problem
here though is that this data is being collected and filed, almost
certainly forever. Whatever happened to the presumption of
innocence? Surely this is leading to a time when all people are
databased by the state at birth, and tracked until they die. - Stu]
Parents prepare to sue fingerprint grabbers
Schools to be challenged over biometrics
By Mark Ballard -> More by this author
Published Friday 6th October 2006 11:47 GMT
Parents are preparing a legal challenge to schools that have
fingerprinted their children without their consent.
Janine Fletcher, a solicitor and concerned parent who instigated the
legal response, said she became concerned when she learned that 70
schools in her home county of Cumbria had taken childrens'
fingerprints without seeking parental consent.
"It's a breach of human rights," she said. "Lots of parents are
willing to take legal action. There's a clear case."
"We are trying to get a list of distressed parents together who are
prepared to take group action," she said. "Every child has a right to
privacy."
Richard Furlong, a barrister who has advised the campaign group Leave
Them Kids Alone, which is co-ordinating the action, said: "Once the
kids fingerprints are taken, the schools are obliged in law to
disclose the fingerprint to the police if they are investigating a
crime. All of a sudden, police have a huge database to query. But the
police only usually have access to your fingerprints when you are
arrested."
"All of a sudden they've got this great database and in twenty years
time they'll have everyone's fingerprints through the back door," he
said.
"People say, 'if you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to
fear', I always say, well how much do you earn then?" he added.
Many schools put their fingerprint systems in over the school
holidays and informed parents by letter on the first day of term,
said Fletcher. Parents weren't being given enough time to disagree
with the scheme, let alone think through the ramifications of their
children being fingerprinted.
The group are preparing to take a test case against a school that has
fingerprinted children without parental consent.®
