Florida Lawmakers Set to Probe Biometric Scans in Schools

Next Tuesday, Florida legislators will discuss privacy issues and other consequences of biometric scanning of school children. The state’s lawmakers are considering regulating the use of identifying children by fingerprint, palm print, iris scans and other types of biometric identifiers.
The issue arose when parents discovered that their children’s eyes were being scanned in order to be able to ride school buses in Polk County, central Florida. Stanley Black & Decker’s Convergent Security Solution’s imaged the irises of 750 school children as a pilot project before it was halted by pressure from concerned parents. The school’s superintendent, like the parents, was not told of the project before it launched.
The Connecticut-based company’s website claims that iris scans are second only to DNA in providing certain aspects of identification.
A bill will be brought up Tuesday by the Florida Senate’s education committee that will require school districts wanting to utilize biometric measurements to put into place strict policies on public disclosure, use and maintenance of collected data and give parents the option of whether or not they would like their child to participate in the program.
Students had their palms scanned in the lunch line in another pilot project conducted in Florida’s Pinellas County School District in 2011.

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