Fury as schoolchildren fingerprinted

THOUSANDS of Scottish children are being subjected to fingerprinting in schools - often without their parents' knowledge - using technology created for prisons and the military.

The fingerprint system, known as IdentiKit, is designed for use in school libraries. Children have their fingerprint scanned into a computer system, where it is stored and used in place of a library card.

Some 30 schools in Perth and Kinross, Dundee, Angus, Edinburgh and Aberdeen have installed the equipment, says Stockport-based manufacturer Micro-Librarian Systems (MLS). More than 1100 schools in the UK are using it.

Politicians and human rights groups have attacked the system. Privacy International, the human rights watchdog, condemned the procedure as "dangerous, illegal and unnecessary" and said the system should be withdrawn. Director Simon Davies said: "Such a process has the effect of softening children up for such initiatives as ID cards and DNA testing. It is clearly a case of 'get them while they're young'."

Privacy International says fingerprinting children for library cards is a "clear violation" of the Human Rights Act, the Data Protection Act and Article 16 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It has also attacked the UK Information Commission, responsible for protecting data on British citizens. In a letter to MLS the Commission's compliance officer, Robert Mechan, praised the use of the technology in schools. But he added it was "understandable" that parents would be concerned and admitted it was "theoretically possible to use the information to match fingerprints taken from a scene of crime".

The technology was brought to Privacy International's attention when it received a complaint from the mother of a child at a London school. The organisation has now called on the Home Office to conduct an inquiry into dealings between the Information Commission and private companies.

Davies fears fingerprinting technology will be expanded in schools. Lynn Stevens, customer services manager with MLS, has said: "You may ask, why stop with library systems when schools have so many concerns with registration, attendance and security? I assure you, we are way ahead of you. Watch this space."

Andrew O'Brien, marketing manager of MLS, said the technology was not being forced on schools, and pointed out that literature accompanying the system "stresses the importance of notifying parents".

Roseanna Cunningham, SNP deputy leader and the Scottish parliament's shadow justice minister, said: "We need to find out if this is being used in Scottish schools without the consent of parents; who is holding the database of prints; who has access to the database; for what purpose is the database being used and for long is it in existence?

A Scottish Executive spokesman said: "It is for individual schools and local authorities to decide whether to use this technology. However, we would expect parents would be consulted and receive firm reassurances that the information would not be used for any other purpose."

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