Original Link – http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1665119,00.html

Schools in certain states in America want to introduce fingerprint scanners in cafeterias to increase the lunch period. Using a 6 digit number was troublesome for a lot, and it shortened the lunch break which in some schools is only 20 minutes long. The schools’ idea is that by using a fingerprint scanner lines would move more quickly and the students could enjoy a longer lunch break.

The information system here is biometric devices and their use. At the beginning of the year, all the children would have their fingerprints scanned and put into the school system. Then, when in a lunch line, what a child would have to do is just put their index finger on a small biometric reader. The picture of the person and other personal data would be pulled from the school server and would pop up on the cashier’s screen.

This development raises the ethical issue of privacy. Even though schools have a legal binding with the government that they can’t release any personal data, a lot of parents are infuriated by this new idea. One of them commented it as being Orwellian, and that he believes that this data might be compromised by 3rd parties. While the schools believe that this would be a great improvement, parents are scared about their children and no one should blame them. No one would want the personal data of their children seen by people who were never meant to see it.

A possible area of impact of this is the education system along with the children in it. If the system is not implemented, the children will have to stand more time in a line, have less free time during lunch which could possibly demoralize them for the next class. The impact on the school would be such that everything would be much more simplified, and no one would have to go through the trouble if they forgot their student ID. They would have their fingerprint with them for payment. Other stakeholders apart from the children and schools include the parents who are terribly nervous about their children’s privacy, and the biometrics companies, for which schools are slowly becoming good customer of.