Infrared scanning of your kids: high-tech time saver or Orwellian invasion of privacy?

The New Intimacy

Infrared scanning of your kids: high-tech time saver or Orwellian invasion of privacy?

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Contributor: Petite Valentine Petite Valentine
Baltimore, MD is rolling out a new lunch system where kids pay for their meals by scanning their palm prints. Parents were none too pleased that the system launched before they were given the option of opting their kids out of it. You can read more about the new program in a Baltimore Sun article HERE. How do you feel about using palm scanners for school lunches?

Would you want your child's palm print scanned to pay for a school lunch?
Answers (public voting - your screen name will appear in the results):
Yes, it makes the process faster and will allow for better accounting.
ViVix , Alyxx
2  (17%)
No, it's an invasion of privacy and there are better ways to achieve the goal.
sXeVegan90 , GONE! , Ciao. , malantha , charmedtomeetyou , Alyona , leanright69 , Gunsmoke
8  (67%)
Other.
SneakersAndPearls , KyotoAngel
2  (17%)
Total votes: 12
Poll is closed
10/07/2012
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Contributor: sXeVegan90 sXeVegan90
I feel something like this is an invasion of privacy. Why would a school need a palm scanner in order to ring up a kid's lunch? Honestly, this kinda thing is just ridiculous, and they should use the technology for other means, not on schoolchildren.
10/08/2012
Contributor: ViVix ViVix
Quote:
Originally posted by Petite Valentine
Baltimore, MD is rolling out a new lunch system where kids pay for their meals by scanning their palm prints. Parents were none too pleased that the system launched before they were given the option of opting their kids out of it. You can read more ... more
As a previous substitute teacher, watching kids forget their lunch money, be swindled out of lunch money by other children, etc., I think this would be useful. I would just like to know that their prints would be taken out of the system when they left the school.
10/08/2012
Contributor: Ciao. Ciao.
I don't feel it's a huge invasion of privacy issue, but cost-wise I wonder if a palm scanner is significantly more expensive. The question for me comes down to: what's the gain for the students? If this is an extra cost, and it's not improving the quality of their education, why is it being done.
10/08/2012
Contributor: Alyxx Alyxx
Kids have been fingerprinted in schools for years for safety programs (although parents can opt out of this I think) so I don't see much of a difference. I think that parents should be able RO opt out of this as well, but I think in general it is a good idea. Kids can forget lunch money or the little swipe cards / IDs some of my schools used for lunch programs, but even the most forgetful of students can't forget their own hands at home. No holding up the line scrambling to find money or cards, either. As long as the schools don't keep the prints on file after graduation I don't see a problem with it, and who knows, those prints could be used to help identify or find a lost or abducted child one day.

Also, if this change means no kid has to go without a hot lunch at school or the improved productivity in the lunch line means schools can start improving their lunch programs in other ways (healthier foods for example) I think it is a win all around.
10/08/2012
Contributor: SneakersAndPearls SneakersAndPearls
I dunno. I have mixed feelings about this.
10/08/2012
Contributor: Alyona Alyona
No, it's an invasion of privacy and there are better ways to achieve the goal.
10/08/2012
Contributor: KyotoAngel KyotoAngel
Being the forgetful type myself, I could see this being a decent idea if it's done right and the prints are removed at the end of each school year or something.
I think it would have been nice if the parents had at least gotten a letter to warn them of the change before it happened though.
10/08/2012
Contributor: Gunsmoke Gunsmoke
I would opt out - but its realistic for those who are not concerned.
10/08/2012