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Jul 29, 2007 2:02 pm US/Pacific
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School Uses Fingerprint Scanner To Curb Lunch Line
LANCASTER, Calif. (CBS) ―
An elementary school in Lancaster plans to use a fingerprint scanner to control the lunch line, it was reported Sunday.
The idea is to reduce the delays that occur now when children have to enter their ID numbers on a keypad to buy lunch at El Dorado School.
"With kindergartners and first-graders, even students who go away for summer or for break, there are issues of remembering their number," Connie Conrad, director of child nutrition, told the Daily News. "It's a lot easier not to have a crying child, trying to get their name from them."
The American Civil Liberties Union has expressed concern. "Anytime we collect biometric data, it creates a huge danger that data can end up misplaced or someone else can get a hold of it," ACLU attorney Peter Eliasberg told the Daily News. "It's a really bad idea."
But representatives from the firm supplying the device, M2SYS in Atlanta, say those fears are unwarranted.
The machine takes an image of the fingerprint and converts 15 points from the print to an encrypted code used to identify the student. The print is then discarded and could not be reproduced if someone were to hack into the system.
"Our system doesn't store a copy of the child's fingerprint. It creates a proprietary identity template, which can't be turned into a fingerprint or used outside of the system," Kevin Creel of M2SYS told the Daily News. "There is absolutely no privacy risk to parents or kids."
For those parents who are still concerned, Lancaster will make the program voluntary and allow students to continue to use the PIN system if they want to.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)