On The Front Lines
Rutherford Institute Calls on Maryland Schools to Reject Biometric Palm Reader Lunch Program, Provides Concerned Parents with Opt-Out Letter
WESTMINSTER, Md. — Citing security and privacy concerns, as well as a clear failure on the part of school officials to address parental concerns about an influx of invasive technology in the schools, John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, is calling on the Carroll County Public Schools to cease its implementation of a biometric palm reader program for students who buy school lunches or, at a minimum, only allow students to enroll in the program upon receiving express written permission from a parent. The Institute has made an opt-out letter available to parents concerned about the use of biometric devices in their schools.
The devices scan the unique vein structure in a child’s palm and then match that unique identifier to stored information regarding the child’s lunch account. The Rutherford Institute has been vocal in warning school officials and communities against prioritizing the interests of governments and corporations over the privacy rights of students and families. Most recently, Institute attorneys came to the defense of a sophomore in a Texas public school who was expelled because she refused to wear an RFID tracking badge as part of the school’s campaign to track student whereabouts in order to secure state funding.
“What parents need to realize is that these tracking and surveillance programs which are increasingly being adopted by the public schools are about two things only—money and control,” said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead. “These programs are not only aimed at enriching the schools and their corporate partners—they don’t make the schools safer or help students learn more—but they also ensure that young people’s highly personal and unique biometric identifiers are entered into government databases for the purpose of ongoing surveillance. In other words, this is merely a stealth move on the part of corporations and schools to further entrench the surveillance state.”
Palm scanning identification devices are becoming increasingly common throughout the country, and can be found in over 50 school systems and 160 hospital systems, spanning 15 states and Washington, DC. Public schools in Carroll County, Maryland, have implemented a biometric lunch program which involves scanning the palms of schoolchildren in order to allow them to purchase food. School officials claim the devices are intended to make cafeteria lunch lines more efficient and safeguard student meal accounts. The biometric palm reader takes an infrared picture of the palm’s vein structure and then matches that image with stored information to identify the child.
The Rutherford Institute, which has opposed many scanning and tracking programs being implemented in schools throughout the country, was asked to intervene after Mike Webb, the father of a child in the Carroll County public school system, objected to his son being forced to participate in such a program. In calling on the Carroll County Board of Education to cease its implementation of the program or, at the very least, only allow students to enroll in the program with express written consent from a parent, John W. Whitehead warned school officials against making government tracking and surveillance ubiquitous in the schoolhouse and, in the process, desensitizing young people to threats to personal privacy when used in broader contexts. As one corporation that sells biometric technologies to school districts confirmed, “[O]nce finger scanning is being used successfully in one part of the school, the idea migrates and is embraced in other areas as well.” These include the school’s front door, the classroom, the nurse’s office, the library, buses, athletic events and dances. Another company eagerly touts the fact that wireless biometric technology is in development to assist large schools with “hallway monitoring.”
Click here to read The Rutherford Institute’s biometrics opt-out letter for parents.
Click here to read John Whitehead’s letter to Carroll County Public Schools.
