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Learning to Live With Biometrics
By Claudia Graziano | Also by this reporter Page 1 of 1

02:00 AM Sep. 09, 2003 PT

It's the first day of school and Matt Miller, director of food services for Penn Cambria schools, sits at a table next to the registration desk, collecting digital images of students' fingerprints with a portable scanner.

...Not surprisingly, privacy advocates are worried about the use of biometrics in public schools, where minors are the ones being scanned.

At best, the technology is overkill and a waste of taxpayer money, said Chris Hoofnagle, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C. At worst, it sets a dark precedent, conditioning students at a young age to embrace the idea of Big Brother-style biometric tracking. "If ever there was a generation that would not oppose a government system for universal ID, it's this one," he said....