Children's Digital Rights

From Orgwiki

"If I wanted to create a surveillance society, I would start by creating dossiers on kindergarten children so that the next generation could not comprehend a world without surveillance." - Andre Bacard, author of 'The Computer Privacy Handbook'

Personal information should stay personal.

Contents

[edit] Children’s Databases

[edit] Children Act

The Children Act 2004 allows the details of every child in England and Wales to be placed on a Universal Child Database. That's approximately 12 million children. All children in England and Wales will be given a unique identity number at birth, and entered into a database where their personal files will record every "concern" that a professional has about them. It will also record "concerns" about their parents. The Bill allows this to happen without the knowledge or consent of children and parents.

Children Act 2004 centralised databases to cost £244 million to set up?

There are widespread fears about this massive centralised database, which, amongst other things will destroy the confidentiality of professional medical, social worker or legal advisors to Children.

There is no sign of any of the proposed safeguards that were promised.

Partly due to her backing of the Child Database, Privacy International awarded Margaret Hodge MP the 2004 Big Brother Award for "Worst Public Servant".

Children Bill to introduce surveillance of every child and record "concerns" about their parents The information-sharing goes far beyond concerns that a child is at risk of significant harm. It is the Government's intention that it should include youth offences, educational issues and medical information about each child. It will also include information about other family members that may be considered relevant, such as suspected drug and alcohol misuse or mental health problems.

Why Social Workers Oppose the Child Database The Children Act 2004 makes provision for a national child database which will contain records for every child under 18 and include contact details of parents/carers and education and health services involved with child. More alarmingly the database will also include information about the existence of any undefined 'cause for concern'. Social workers are being told that this database would help them identify children at risk and make it easier for them to keep families under surveillance. The truth is that the database is unnecessary, unworkable and uneconomic and the problems created by it would far outweigh the benefits. It is also a distraction from the real problems in children's services.

Universal Child Databasemore details from Wikipedia.

[edit] Integrated Children’s System

The ICS hold the records of every child who comes into contact with social services for any reason. This database will be able to communicate with many other databases containing children’s records.

The ICS Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights have issues with the ICS. They believe that the information-sharing powers contained in the new Children Act 2004 may breach the Human Rights Act.

The official ICS website.

[edit] DNA Database

Police files hold the DNA of more than 50,000 children who have committed no offence.

[edit] PLASC

PLASC (Pupil Level Annual Schools Census) requires schools in England and Wales to supply information about all students.

Required All Schools Primary Secondary School-based Sixth Forms Special Schools
Unique Pupil Number (UPN) x x x x x
Name x x x x x
Gender x x x x x
Date of Birth x x x x x
Entry Date x x x x x
Part-time Indicator x x
Whether the child is solely or dually registered at the school x x
National Curriculum Year x x x x x
Nursery/Ordinary Class Indicator x
Whether the child is studying any A'level courses x
The number of A, AS or A2 subjects being studied x
The level of any GNVQs the child is studying x
The GNVQ precursors being studied x
The level of any NVQs the child is studying x
Other courses the child is studying x
SEN Stage x x x x x
Eligibility for Free School Meals x x x x x
Mother Tongue x x x x x
Ethnicity x x x x x
Source of Ethnicity Code x x x x x
Boarding Status x x x x x
Postcode x x x x x

Some head teachers and school governors think the annual school census amounts to an invasion of privacy.

This data is exempt from the Data Protection Act, which means that the consent of the pupil's parents, or the pupil if over 16, need not be sought.

"Isn't PLASC an invasion of pupils' privacy?" Official answer from teachernet

The submission of a PLASC return, including a set of named pupil records, is a statutory requirement on schools under section 537A of the Education Act 1996.
The reason for putting PLASC on a statutory basis is only partly to help ensure compliance by schools. It also means that schools do not need to obtain parental or pupil consent to the provision of information (which would be a major burden for them), and they are protected from any legal challenge that they are breaching a duty of confidence to pupils.

Why does the Department need named pupil records?

The Department has absolutely no interest in the identity of individual pupils as such.
However it does, for statistical purposes, need to be able to link together different pieces of information relating to the same pupil but collected at different times. For example information on pupils characteristics (such as their ethnic group or special educational needs) contained in the pupil records submitted for PLASC, which needs to be linked pupil by pupil with information collected separately on Key Stage assessment results in order to be to analyse the achievement levels of different ethnic and other groups.
The linking of pupil records across different data sets will be based in the first instance on UPNs. However UPNs alone are not sufficient there will be a significant minority of cases where UPNs are missing or inaccurate and it is necessary to have pupil names and dates of birth to fall back on to link pupil records in such cases.

The plan is to soon be able to obtain all this information automatically from the schools own databases without any teacher being involved.

The Secretary of State for Education confirmed in a written parliamentary answer in February 2001 that the DfES was planning to introduce a 'tracking' system for all children and young people.

ARCH has the full story here.

BBC Privacy fears over school census What is causing most alarm is the requirement to include pupils' full names, along with their home postcodes. The Department for Education says this information is needed only by technical staff and anything that is passed on to other agencies will be anonymous.

[edit] Connexions

As ARCH points out “The ‘Connexions’ database has already introduced what is effectively a national identity scheme for teenagers. The implications for all citizens if it is maintained into adulthood are extremely worrying.”

"If you want information and advice designed just for you, or just someone to talk to, then Connexions has it all – and if you’re 16 why not sign up for an exclusive Connexions Card?" Connexions official web site


Organizationally, Connexions is undergoing transition.

Connexions is currently going through a process of transition. Following the publication of Every Child Matters and Youth Matters, children's trusts are being established in each local authority area and the funding that currently goes directly to each of the 47 Connexions partnerships will go directly to each of the 150 local authority areas by April 2008.

— Every Child Matters - Strategy and Governance - Connexions


Every Child Matters has published some material about their information sharing index.

[edit] Ryogens

Ryogens (risk of youth offending generic solutions) is a profiling tool for identifying children who may at some time in the future break the law.

RYOGENS provides a checklist of the issues that should cause a professional to "flag" a child's record. These include, "frequently moving house", "non-constructive spare time/easily bored", "criminal area of residence", "negative home influence on education" and "Poor General Parenting Skills"

The full RYOGENS check list

[edit] SureStart

The Integrated Children’s System will be able to access data held on the SureStart database.

Sure Start is a Government programme which aims to achieve better outcomes for children, parents and communities by:

  • increasing the availability of childcare for all children
  • improving health and emotional development for young children
  • supporting parents as parents and in their aspirations towards employment.

SureStart is a very good scheme where children have been recognised as a defined client group with specific needs. The problem is that now its database will be exposed to the Integrated Children’s System.

www.surestart.gov.uk

Listen to the bbc woman's hour on Sure Start

The first report on Sure Start is published today. It is the response to overwhelming evidence that the futures of most children are set by family circumstance long before primary school. Sure Start provides drop-in mother-and-toddler groups, parenting classes, health visitors, IT classes, childcare, speech therapy and so on.
Jenni is joined by Professor Ted Melhuish, Sociologist at the University of Kent Ellie Lee and journalist Polly Toynbee to discuss whether we now have evidence that the scheme has fatal flaws.

Guardian. Doubts over value of £3bn Sure Start

[edit] NHS Database

There will be a link between some of the information held in the NHS databases and The Integrated Children's System.

NHS electronic medical records "data spine" privacy and security worries Remember that the Common Law Duty of Confidentiality for professionals in a position of trust, with respect to the medical records of Children, has been destroyed by the passage of the Children Act 2004 Section 12 Information databases , which

(11) Regulations under subsection (5) may also provide that anything which may be done under regulations under subsection (6)(c) to (e) or (9) may be done notwithstanding any rule of common law which prohibits or restricts the disclosure of information.

Bolton kick-starts child database pilot Guardian, David Batty, 2003

The government's controversial plan to keep a file on every child in England has received a boost after an NHS trust reversed its decision to withhold information about local children from social services.
The board of Bolton primary care trust (PCT) decided last night that they had the statutory power to put the name, address, date of birth and gender of every child on its records onto a database accessible to other agencies.

From Wikipedia: National Programme for IT which is being delivered by the new Department of Health agency NHS Connecting for Health, is an initiative in the British National Health Service to connect England's 30,000 GPs to 300 hospitals, allowing access to all patient records by health professionals and patients. It is said to be the world's biggest civil information technology programme.

[edit] ID Card database

No2id

[edit] Good retorts

How do you answer when someone asks "does that mean you accept sacrificing children to abuse in order to preserve a little freedom for yourself?".

If it would save just one child, it must be worth it, right? Well, hundreds of children die on the roads every year, yet we do not ban motor vehicles; many children fall down flights of stairs and break their necks, yet we do not ban multi-storey buildings; and dozens of under-age drinkers are hospitalised every weekend, yet we do not ban alcohol.
If we did all these things, the results would be amazing: child casualty figures would drop through the floor. So why do we not? Surely, if it would save just one child…
Our society does NOT make protection of its members its first priority, to the exclusion of all others. It is a system of carefully balanced benefits and disadvantages. In the case of wholesale surveillance of the population, the benefits are massively outweighed by those disadvantages. That's why it's still a bad idea, even if children die who might have lived if they were being surveilled.
— Richard King to org-discuss@lists.openrightsgroup.org, 28 June 2006


[edit] Organisations and People Active On These Issues

[edit] Action on Rights for Children

ARCH has been dealing with all kinds of different issues that have a common theme: children’s independence and right to a private life. At the moment this is under attack from all sides. It’s easy to forget that children have a human right to privacy when the IT industry is so busy dreaming up ever more ways of tapping into the lucrative children’s market, and the Government uses the mantra of ‘child protection’ to promote its child-surveillance policies to the public.

ARCH list of Children’s Databases

[edit] Liberty

Liberty has published a guide to the rights of children and young people.

[edit] The Children's Commissioner

Peter Clarke is the Children's Commissioner for Wales

Children's Commissioner for England

[edit] Education and Skills select committee

Education and Skills Committee parliamentary web page.

Heard evidence from Eileen Munro saying "At present, professionals only alert others without the family's consent when they have a concern about abuse or neglect. Extending the practice to include flags of concern about any aspect of a child's health or development will lead to a vast increase in the amount of data being shared. There is a real danger that concerns about significant harm will be overlooked in this mountain of data," January 2005

[edit] Joint Committee on Human Rights

Joint Committee on Human Rights parliamentary web page.

Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights report on ICS states that they have issues with the ICS. They believe that the information-sharing powers contained in the new Children Act 2004 may breach the Human Rights Act.

[edit] Children's Rights Alliance for England

CRAE is an alliance of over 360 voluntary and statutory organisations committed to children's human rights.

[edit] Barnado's

Barnardo’s concerns about the proposed database and Notes on the slides

[edit] Leave Them Kids Alone

Leave Them Kids Alone (LTKA) an organisation against schools fingerprinting children - a practice sometimes referred to as "Kiddyprinting". This is now taking place on a massive scale with an estimated 5000 schools taking prints, mostly without parents' consent, sometimes without their knowledge.

Quick list of people who has shown their concern on this issue.

[edit] Privacy International

Privacy International says schools fingerprinting children is illegal and breaches the human right to privacy.

[edit] London School of Economics

[edit] Information Commissioner

Information Commissioner memorandum expresses concerns over the Children Act 2004 section 12 Information databases

The Information Commissioner Richard Thomas has published an 11 page Memorandum to the Education and Skills Select Committee (.pdf) which criticises the Government's plans for a massive database on all children and their parents in the UK, under the controversial powers the Government granted to itself in the Children Act 2004 section 12 Information databases and section 29 Information databases: Wales, which destroys the Common Law duty of professional advisor / client confidentiality.


[edit] Commercial Service Providers

A list of companies providing services that impact on childrens rights, and a description of their role.

[edit] Forensic Software

Offer a tool [1] which, when installed on IT lab computers, monitors the screen for keywords. When detected a record is created including username, time, and a screenshot showing the context. Since the information checked does not need to be sent or stored incidents are actionable that would not otherwise be detected and in which it is difficult to identify any harm at all. This amounts to the regulation of thoughts by school staff.

Children are required to accept a click-through agreement waiving any right to privacy before applications can be used, therefore, children, presumably including those under 16, are effectively forced to agree to an additional legal document in order to take a full part in their legally mandated educations.

(The above was demonstrated at a trade fair by members of FS staff)

[edit] News

[edit] 2008

2008-06-04 - The Clitheroe Advertiser - Biometric ID introduced at Bowland High School
Summary: Ribble Valley school headteacher Mr Stephen Cox said "Although biometric identification has been used in schools for library use for a number of years, we are one of the first schools in Lancashire to embrace the technology for use in paying for school meals, while it is early days the pupils have embraced the technology and we are hoping it will enhance their lunchtime experience by speeding up service."
2008-05-12 - Journal Live - £15,000 system to beat dinner money bullies
Author: Jule Wilson
Summary: A North Tyneside school is spending £15,000 on the latest fingerprinting technology to curb bullying at lunchtime. Every child attending Churchill Community College in Howdon, has had their thumb prints scanned ahead of the launch of the new cashless payment system after the half-term break.The biometric system is designed to reduce bullying in schools and any potential stigma suffered by those receiving free school meals.
2008-05-12 - Bex Hill Observer - New William Parker head roars into action
Author: Sandra Daniels
Summary: Biometric fingerprints will be used by both pupils and staff to pay for everything from school dinners to theatre trips. "We will be the first school in the town to be a cashless college," said John. "All our catering and anything that parents have to pay for will be paid for from online student accounts."
2008-05-11 - Denbighshire Free Press - AM criticises fingerprint plan for pupils
Summary: The AM for the Vale of Clwyd has slammed Denbighshire County Council's plans to fingerprint children at Ysgol Glan Clwyd. Denbighshire Catering Services has installed a biometric cashless system into canteens at the St Asaph school, which will go live on May 15. But AM Ann Jones says she has been approached by a worried parent of a pupil at Ysgol Glan Clwyd and is very concerned about the scheme. "I believe that it is wholly wrong for the privacy of our children to be intruded in this way," said Ms Jones.
2008-05-09 - Times Educational Supplement - Council accused of 'Big Brother' tactics over use of fingerprint technology in schools
Author: Nicola Porter
Summary: A row over fingerprinting pupils using the latest biometric technology has erupted in Denbighshire. Pupils at Blessed Edward Jones in Rhyl, the former school of TV presenter Carol Vorderman, are among the first in the Welsh county to use the system, which confirms payment for school lunches with fingerprints instead of cash. But education officials are being accused by campaigners of using Big Brother tactics. They say the system was brought in without sufficient consultation with parents
2008-05-08 - Keighley News - Parents' shock as school takes thumb scans
Author: Miran Rahman
Summary: A system which scans children's thumbprints to allow them to take out and return library books is at the centre of a row between parents and a school. Mums and dads of children - aged between five and ten - at Long Lee Primary School claim they never gave their consent to their children's left thumbs being scanned. They have demanded any data obtained in this way is removed from the school's computer.
2008-04-25 - Flintshire Standard - Fingerprint system on the menu for school canteens
Author: Laura Hughes
Summary: Two schools in Llangollen are introducing biometric cashless system, which involves using pupils' fingerprints in the school canteen instead of money. The system is due to go live at Ysgol Glan Clwyd in St Asaph on May 15 and the council will be rolling it out at other schools, including Llangollen's Ysgol Dinas Bran, as and when their current systems need updating. The council said headteachers, parents and governors of both schools were fully informed and consulted before the introduction and are supportive of the scheme. But parents of some pupils at the schools have voiced concerns about their children's fingerprints being taken, including Sophie McKeand of Mold, who is seeking talks with Flintshire Council after refusing to let her two children have their prints recorded at Mold Alun High School.
2008-04-09 - The Register - UK child database is 'not fit for purpose'
Author: John Oates
Summary: The government is pressing ahead with its "Integrated Children's System" despite a review of four pilot projects which call into doubt the database's design and its benefits - if any - for care workers. The ICS review was carried out by two academics from the University of York and nine researchers. They examined progress in two local authorities in England and two in Wales. The review of the database - which will include entries on any child with serious illness, disability or contact with social services - only came to light as the result of a Freedom of Information request by Action on Rights for Children.
2008-04-07 - Kable - LibDems protest over children's DNA
Summary: Under 18s now account for one in four people added to the National DNA Database. Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Jenny Willott released the figures, obtained from a parliamentary question, with the claim that the government is dragging children into the criminal justice system. They show that between October 2007 and January 2008 25% of those added were 18 or younger, compared with less than 11% of those already on the database. Willott said that under 18s are being added at the rate of 5,000 per month. "There is something horribly Big Brotherish about a society that is adding over 5,000 kids a month to a DNA database when they're not even old enough to get a National Insurance Number," she said.
2008-03-18 - The Telegraph - CCTV in class spies on teachers, says union
Author: Graeme Paton
Summary: Schools are becoming "Orwellian" societies where CCTV cameras in classrooms monitor pupil behaviour and staff performance, teachers will warn today. Schools are believed to have first installed classroom CCTV four years ago They are relying on "Big Brother-style" tactics to crack down on assaults on staff and fellow children, it is claimed. Many of the Government's semi-independent academies have installed cameras and two-way mirrors to let senior staff monitor pupils, they say. But the 160,000-strong Association of Teachers and Lecturers fears that the systems are being used by heads to monitor staff performance, putting teachers' ability to work independently at risk.
2008-02-24 - The Observer - MPs must thwart the dark plans of the state
Author: Henry Porter
Summary: Parliament has never been less vigilant about the many measures to increase Home Office power. In the name of the great democrats of the past, act now. ... If you want to know how Britain will be in 20 years' time, the best place to look is the legislation affecting children. An excellent report produced by, among others, Action on Rights for Children, Liberty, the Open Rights Group and No2ID, paints a horrific picture of the intensive surveillance of our children who are being conditioned to tolerate the collection of biometric data (fingerprints for library use) and the endless attention of these faceless monitors.
2008-02-21 - NO2ID - Government tries to ignore security risk to millions of families
Summary: A report commissioned by the government following the HMRC Child Benefit data breach last year confirms that the ContactPoint database, intended to contain the details of every child and parent in the country, can never be made secure. This confirms objections that NO2ID and other campaigners have been pressing since the passing of the Children Act 2004. The report by Deloitte and Touche, of which a summary was published this afternoon, says: "It should be noted that risk can only be managed, not eliminated, and therefore there will always be a risk of data security incidents occurring." The government has refused to publish the full report, 'for security reasons'. In essence it is trying to ignore the problem. It appears from the Executive Summary that has been published that Deloitte confirms some of the issues identified by campaigners well before the legislation had been passed. Phil Booth, NO2ID’s national coordinator, said: "If the report identifies problems in ContactPoint, then the government should face up to them – not try to keep them secret. Ministers can no longer say, "You’ll just have to trust us". We know we can't." "If the governmen's own report says no system accessible by over 300,000 people can ever be made secure, the answer is not to ignore it and hope everyone forgets. What will they do when - not if - the system is abused? Hide that too?" "ContactPoint is just one more case where official face-saving trumps the basic rights of the general public. Behind the cosy slogan, 'every child matters' seems to mean putting every child equally at risk. If the government cared about more than sloganising, it would scrap the whole scheme immediately."
2008-02-22 - The Telegraph - Child database 'will never be fully secure'
Summary: Ministers faced calls to scrap a controversial database containing the personal details of every child in England yesterday after warnings that it would never be completely secure. An independent report called for tighter security to be put in place for the £224?million ContactPoint system, which is due to be introduced later this year. Ministers asked the consultants Deloitte to review arrangements for the database after the lost computer discs scandal at HM Revenue and Customs last November. MPs called on the Government to release the report in full after ministers decided to publish no more than a five-page summary for security reasons.
2008-02-13 - The Register - Government wants every English child on 'secure' database
Author: John Oates
Summary: The government will announce plans tomorrow to give every English child an identifying number and a database entry of their school qualifications. The idea, if that's not too strong a word, is that the database will include a mini-CV which employers will be able to check.
2008-02-13 - BBC - Anger over pupils database plan
Summary: The government is being urged to scrap a database of all pupils' school records amid data security fears. Every 14-year-old in England will have their exam results and personal details held on a central database. Officials insist the system is secure but critics say the government can not be trusted with personal data. Anti-ID card campaigners also claim will be used as a step towards introducing identity cards, although this is denied by officials.
2008-02-07 - The Mirror - PM Gordon Brown gives the OK for some phone tap evidence
Summary: ... But he was accused of creating a "snooper state" after it was revealed 5,000 schools fingerprint children for ID checks in canteens and libraries. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg claimed Britain is now the world's "most spied upon" country.
2008-01-31 - Evening Leader - Mum's outrage at fingerprints for school dinners scheme
Author: Amy Illingworth
Summary: A mother is setting up a parents' action group because she says she is "shocked and outraged" that children's fingerprints are being scanned when buying their school meals. "I strongly disagree with ID cards and feel this is the perfect way to institutionalise our children and get them to accept this level of monitoring from an early age. They will not then complain about ID cards when they reach adulthood." "To have such important and sensitive biometric data being taken from children for a matter as trivial as buying lunch is absolutely absurd."
2008-01-23 - the Inquirer - Children are human beings too
Author: Wendy M Grossman
Summary: Any time politicians want to justify an unpopular policy these days they invoke child safety: anti-terrorism laws, the ID card, speed cameras, GPS tracking, Internet censorship. Terri Dowty also wants to protect children in this high-tech era, but in a different way: "Children are the crash-test dummies for so much new technology, particularly where databases are concerned," she says.
2008-01-13 - Red Pepper - Generation ID : lessons in kiddyprinting
Author: Tamanna Kalhar
Summary: Thousands of children across the UK have had their fingerprints and DNA taken without explicit informed parental consent. Tamanna Kalhar speaks to Terri Dowty of Action on Rights for Children. The innocuous term ‘kiddyprinting’ refers to the controversial practice of routinely fingerprinting schoolchildren. Many parents are unaware of it because they have not been asked for their explicit consent, or in many cases even notified that it is taking place.
2008-01-11 - Daily Mail - Row as school takes pupils' fingerprints before they can have their dinner
Summary: A row has erupted as it emerged that pupils' fingerprints are being scanned before they buy dinner in a new "cashless" catering system at two schools. A headteacher at one of the schools in Suffolk insisted the controversial new practice was not an infringement of the kids' civil liberties. But the pressure group Action on Rights for Children (Arch) accused teachers of being unwise to encourage children to allow fingerprints to be taken for such an everyday activity.

[edit] 2007

2007-12-27 - The Guardian - Primary school pupils' personal data 'at risk'
Summary: Personal details of 2 million primary schoolchildren in England are being put at risk by staff taking home unprotected data. A survey of almost 1,000 primary schools found that 49% were backing up pupil data on to discs, memory sticks or tapes which were taken off the school premises, exposing the material to loss or theft. IT experts RM School Management Solutions, which carried out the survey, said that only 1% of respondents encrypted the data. A further 4% of schools were leaving sensitive and unprotected data at unsecured locations on the school premises.
2007-12-19 - The Guardian - This spate of crises speaks of a bloated, broken Whitehall
Author: Simon Jenkins
Summary: With costs on the ID card and NHS computer projects accelerating beyond the power of audit, there is no sign of improvement. In areas such as child support, doctor recruitment, defence coordination, illegal immigration and farm subsidies, not millions but billions of pounds are being wasted. Next year the senseless ContactPoint computer of all child records will go online, costing £40m a year just to operate. It is a racing certainty that this project will collapse from over-complexity and insecurity.
2007-12-07 - The Guardian - In the age of leaky data, there is no such thing as a secure online computer
Author: Simon Jenkins
Summary: The groups most eagerly awaiting the government’s ID computer are criminals and terrorists. The home secretary, Jacqui Smith, will supply them with detailed, supposedly confidential identification, including digitised biometrics, of every British citizen and visitor passing through immigration. …NHS hackers will be able to offer employers and insurance agents any patient’s full medical records. The government’s ContactPoint child database is about to go online at an annual cost of £41m. It will identify and locate all Britain’s 11 million children under 18, including those of celebrities. No opting out will be allowed and the base will be legally accessible to 330,000 officials - which means to everyone.
2007-11-28 - Ideal Goverment - ContactPoint: the basics and the basic questions
Author: William Heath
Summary: They announced a security review of ContactPoint yesterday but the LibDems are asking for a review of whether ContactPoint is fit for purpose, and that’s surely the deeper question. The security review announcement was already planned before the HMRC debacle, I’m told. The Minister referred to HMRC in his statement to da House but the media suggestion it is a reaction to the lost CDs is misleading.
2007-11-28 - The Register - UK database of children delayed
Author: John Oates
Summary: The UK's proposed child database has been delayed after "feedback from stakeholders" and not obviously in response to the government's loss of the UK's child benefit database on two CDs. ContactPoint will contain details on every child in the UK including name, address, gender and a unique identifying number. The database will contain information on every organisation involved with the child.
2007-11-27 - Channel 4 News - Child database delayed for review
Summary: Ministers are revising their plans for a controversial database containing personal details of every child in the country, the Government announced. The £224 million ContactPoint database will be delayed by five months while a security review takes place and changes are made to the system.
2007-11-27 - Liberal Democrat press release - Review should ask whether child database is fit for purpose
Author: Annette Brooke MP
Summary: The Liberal Democrats have called for a security review of the ContactPoint database, announced today, to be expanded to investigate whether the entire project is ‘fit for purpose’. On Monday, the Liberal Democrats called for a review of the security of the controversial online database that will hold personal details of every child in the UK. Commenting, Liberal Democrat Children, Schools and Families Spokesperson, Annette Brooke MP said "It is a shame that it has taken the disastrous loss of HMRC data to convince ministers to reconsider this vast database." "The announced review of security should be expanded to ask whether ContactPoint will actually help to coordinate children services better rather than creating another expensive bureaucratic mess." "The ease with which local government employees can access personal details of any child in the country is only one reason why this database simply isn’t fit for purpose."
2007-11-27 - Action on Rights for Children - Contactpoint delayed
Summary: This has to be one of the most successful pieces of spin ever devised: even when the government makes perfectly clear what some of us have been saying all along, journalists keep right on parroting the original mantra.
2007-11-27 - BBC - Child database system postponed
Summary: Children's minister Kevin Brennan told MPs there would be a five-month delay to the £224m system, ContactPoint. The security review was ordered after the loss of child benefit discs. ... Shadow Children’s Minister Maria Miller said: "The government should also use this opportunity to see whether it really is necessary to have a database for every single child in the country, accessible to 330,000 people, given the significant amount of concern that this could overload the system and lead to a dumbing down of information." "We have always supported, as an alternative, a slimmed-down tightly controlled database which focuses on those genuinely vulnerable children."
2007-11-26 - The Register - Gov pushes token security line on child database
Author: Joe Fay
Summary: The government is bending over backwards to try and calm fears that a new database of every child in the country will inevitably go the way of HMRC's child benefit database when it goes live next year. ContactPoint will feature name, address, gender, date of birth, and a unique number for every child in the country, as well as basic identifying information about parents or carers. It will also feature details, including school and doctor, of all organisations "involved" with the child. The planned database has already sparked concern, both that it will amount to a national ID registry in training, and that it will provide malefactors with unparalleled access to details on children, particularly the most vulnerable. In the wake of the HMRC debacle, the LibDems have called for the database to be encrypted.
2007-11-26 - The Independent - Child database plan under attack following missing discs debacle
Author: Colin Brown
Summary: A review of security has been ordered over Government plans to put the personal details of 11 million schoolchildren on to a database. The move comes in the wake of the HM Revenue and Customs missing discs debacle. Information about every child's name, address, their parents or guardians as well as contact details for each government service they use, including which GP they go to, are to be held on a £224m database called ContactPoint planned for the new year. The information is to be made available to 330,000 government workers on the internet and only a two-part security authentication will be needed to access the data. Parents' groups have protested against putting their children on the database, fearing it could be dangerous. But the loss of the personal details of 25 million people receiving child benefit prompted fresh demands from parents for a rethink of the entire scheme.
2007-11-26 - Liberal Democrat press release - New multi-million pound database puts children at further risk
Author: Annette Brooke MP
Summary: The Liberal Democrats have called for a review of the security of a new database containing the details of every child in the country. Information about every child’s name, address, their parents or guardians, as well as contact details for each government service they use, will be on the ContactPoint database, available online, by next year. The security of the database has come under fresh scrutiny following the loss of details of child benefit recipients by HMRC. Commenting, Liberal Democrat Children, Families and Young People Spokesperson, Annette Brooke MP said "The Government has proven itself not to be trusted with large databases containing personal details." "The failure of security procedures by HMRC has left millions of parents extremely worried and raises questions about the safety of other records stored by the Government." "Ministers must urgently review the security of the ContactPoint database as its highly sensitive information could be extremely dangerous in the wrong hands." "The Government has said that extra unspecified safeguards will be put in place for children of celebrities but why shouldn’t everyone enjoy this privilege?" "There could be more than financial costs if the addresses of vulnerable children from a family separated because of domestic violence, for example, are not kept secure."
2007-11-24 - The Times - Child database under threat after security fiasco
Summary: Tim Loughton, Shadow Children’s Minister, has written to the Children’s Minister Beverley Hughes asking her to put the whole project on ice, amid fears about the security of the information. "After the Revenue and Customs fiasco this week, there are question marks over whether the security around ContactPoint is watertight,"
2007-11-24 - The Action on Rights for Children - Security assessment of Contactpoint
Summary: Come on, get with the programme. Even the government has stopped pretending this is about Victoria Climbie. ... A child identified as at risk of significant harm will, of course, already have been referred immediately to social workers, as per the government’s ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children' guidance. I've just tracked down a briefing I prepared on the early plans for Contactpoint, back in 2003 when I did some work for the Children’s Rights Alliance for England. ... It's been a long four years. At some point my hair turned grey.
2007-11-23 - Kim Cameron's Identity Blog - Childrens' birthdates, addresses and names revealed
Author: Kim Cameron
Summary: Last year Terri Dowty co-authored a report for the British Information Commissioner which highlighted the risks to children’s safety of the government's policy of creating large, centralised databases containing sensitive information about children. But he says the government chose to dismiss the concerns of the report’s authors. Dowty’s experience is a clear instance of my thesis that reduction of identity leakage is still not considered to be a "must-have" rather than a "nice-to-have".
2007-11-23 - The Guardian - Security checks for new child database
Summary: An independent security check is to be carried out on a Whitehall database carrying details of every child in England after the loss of discs holding personal data on 25 million people, it was revealed today. The children's secretary, Ed Balls, ordered an external assessment of the ContactPoint system on Tuesday, as the loss of child benefit data by HM Revenue and Customs was made public.
2007-11-21 - Kable - Children fear ContactPoint abuse
Summary: Children and young people have expressed fears that the ContactPoint database will not be secure and could be targeted by paedophiles. Children's rights director for England, Dr Roger Morgan, has published a report highlighting the views of 62 children the government has consulted in relation to how its new ContactPoint database will work.
2007-11-20 - Action on Rights for Children - Children's Rights Organisation "stunned" by HMRC data loss
Author: Terri Dowty
Summary: Action on Rights for Children is stunned to learn that HMRC has lost computer disks containing the details of the UK’s 15 million children. Terri Dowty, Director of ARCH said: "This appalling security lapse has placed children in the UK in immediate danger especially those who are already vulnerable. Child Benefit records contain every child’s address and date of birth. We are not surprised that the Chair of HMRC’s Board has resigned immediately." Last year Terri Dowty co-authored a report for the Information Commissioner which highlighted the risks to children’s safety of the government’s policy of creating large, centralised databases containing sensitive information about children. The government chose to dismiss the concerns of the reports authors. "The government has recently passed regulations allowing them to build databases containing details of every child in England. They have also announced an intention to create a second national database containing the in-depth personal profiles of children using services. They have batted all constructive criticism away, and repeatedly stressed that children’s data is safe in their hands." "The events of today demonstrate that this is simply not the case, and all of our concerns for children’s safety are fully justified."
2007-11-20 - The Register - Pressure group: perverts will use tech to track your kids
Author: Lewis Page
Summary: A pressure group has warned of worsening threats to children's rights in the UK from biometric and tracking technologies. ARCH, Action on Rights for Children, is a not-for-profit organisation run by a group of concerned citizens. ARCH is concerned that UK schools, parents and educational authorities are too inclined to use tech-based solutions without considering the consequences. In particular, they believe that use of biometric ID systems in schools is getting out of hand, warning of the danger inherent in routinely recording and storing children's fingerprints - or identifiable signatures derived from them.
2007-11-19 - Computerworld UK - Government policies threaten data privacy, warns information commissioner
Author: Tash Shifrin
Summary: Information commissioner Richard Thomas has listed a string of government policies that he feels threaten data protection rights. The data protection watchdog provided the list to the House of Lords constitution committee as part of its inquiry into the impact of surveillance and data collection. ... Thomas was also "sceptical" about the need for a database on all children from birth "for rather vague purposes" of safeguarding their entitlement to education or healthcare, he told the peers. The ContactPoint database emerged from moves to improve child protection, but will cover all children not just those considered to be vulnerable to abuse.
2007-11-14 - Pulse - Social workers to access new child health record
Author: Nigel Praities
Summary: A new comprehensive electronic health record is planned for all children, to be accessible by GPs, nurses and even social workers. But the ambitious Connecting for Health proposals have prompted concerns among some doctors at the prospect of broadening access to sensitive information about young people.
2007-11-05 - Liberal Democrats press release - Almost 150,000 children on DNA database
Author: Nick Clegg MP
Summary: Almost 150,000 children currently under the age of 16 have their details on the Government’s DNA database, figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats have shown. The headline figure masks extremely wide variations between forces, with Northamptonshire retaining just 845 DNA profiles of under-16s, whilst West Midlands Police have over 10,000 and the Metropolitan Police have over 16,000. The number of samples taken may be even higher, as figures show the current age of the individual sampled, rather than their age at the time. Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Nick Clegg MP said: "These figures underline the shocking extent to which this database has intruded, often without parental consent, into the lives of our children." "Thousands of these children will have been found guilty of no crime, yet samples of their DNA will remain on file for life." "The disturbing and illiberal policy of adding a child’s most personal information to a massive government computer system, simply on the grounds of an accusation, must stop immediately." "The Government has to come up with a proportionate and sensible way of using this technology, not the unfair scattergun approach that currently prevails."
2007-10-20 - The Times - Microchip gives staff the lowdown on pupils
Author: Nicola Woolcock
Summary: Children are being tracked by micro-chips embedded in their uniforms in a trial at a secondary school. The devices are used to monitor pupils’ movements and register their arrival in class on the teacher's computer. Supply teachers can also be alerted if a student is likely to misbehave. The chip connects with teachers' computers to show a photograph of the pupil, data about academic performance and whether he or she is in the correct classroom.
2007-10-11 - Daily Mail - The sinister truth about what they do with our children's fingerprints
Author: Sue Reid
Summary: Fionna Elliot does not look like a firebrand. A hard-working mother, she has never had the time or the interest to dabble in politics. Yet when the local primary school wrote to her saying they were about to fingerprint her son Alexander, eight, and daughter Jessica, only six, she was furious. The 29-year-old housewife from Balby in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, saw it as a dangerous step towards a Big Brother society.
2007-10-09 - The Times - Web porn and video games review launched
Summary: The clinical psychologist Dr Tanya Byron today launched a review of the risks to children and young people exposed to potentially harmful material on screen. Dr Byron, the parenting expert and Times columnist best known for her BBC series House of Tiny Tearaways, was appointed by the Government last month to head an inquiry into the impact of violent video games and internet pornography on children.
2007-10-09 - BBC News - Games violence study is launched
Summary: The government is asking for evidence for a new study of the effect of violent computer games on children. Psychologist Tanya Byron will head the study, which will also examine how to protect children from online material. The review is due to be launched by Dr Byron - together with Schools Secretary Ed Balls and Culture Secretary James Purnell - at a school in east London. The games industry's association Elspa said it would co-operate - but it was too often blamed for society's ills.
2007-10-06 - Sunday Herald - ‘Kiddyprinting’ takes off in Scots schools
Author: Adam Forrest
Summary: Almost half of all local authorities in Scotland have schools using fingerprint or palm-print machines to record the identity of pupils. A Sunday Herald survey revealed the speed at which biometric systems have spread since a palmprint reader was piloted at a Paisley primary school just one year ago. Since then, 14 educational authorities have introduced biometric identification, with at least two others planning to put such systems in place. The technology is currently used to record information about library accounts and register pupils' school meal status in the hope that anonymity will help tackle the stigma of free school dinners. Despite fears that such systems are eroding civil liberties by creating unnecessary banks of identity data, experts believe "kiddyprinting" will continue to expand in the near future.
2007-10-05 - Kable - 'No prints, no food' policy slammed
Summary: The government has warned one British school that its policy of not providing pupils' with meals unless they provide their fingerprints could be illegal. The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) said this week, in a statement to the BBC Radio 4 Programme You and Yours, that schools who refused school dinners to children who don't want their fingerprints scanned might be in breach of the law, reports The Register. This contrasts with the overdue guidance note it issued on school fingerprinting in the summer. This application of fingerprint technology at Morley High School, Leeds, had forced one parent to make her child packed lunches, since the school provided no alternative way for children to receive their dinner. John Townsley, head teacher of Morley High School, told You and Yours: "We have given parents an opt out. The opt out is that you don't have to have anything to do with the system whatsoever and that you then have the responsibility as a mum, dad or carer to provide a very healthy alternative to your child."
2007-10-02 - Glasgow Daily Record - Kids Age 5 Get Prints Scanned At School
Author: Mark Mcgivern
Summary: A fingerprinting scheme for school dinner payments could be extended. Trials of the scheme - under which kids as young as five are given school dinner accounts accessed by scanning their fingerprints - have proved successful. ... A spokesman for the Green Party said: "We feel children should be taught the importance of civil liberties and fear practices such as this could teach the next generation to surrender them without question." But a spokesman for the council insisted fingerprinting youngsters is safe and has helped reduce bullying.
2007-09-29 - Highland News - Big Brother fear in school
Author: Cameron Hay
Summary: Kids as young as five are having their fingerprints taken at a city school – just so they can borrow library books! A politician and a civil liberties group have raised serious concerns about the capture of personal data, which has been likened to the novel 1984, where everyone's movements are tracked and monitored.
2007-09-28 - Perthshire Advertiser - Fingerprint payment scheme set to expand
Author: Andrew Welsh
Summary: Every pupil in Perthshire could be fingerprinted under a new school meals security system being considered by education chiefs, it emerged yesterday. The PA can reveal that the futuristic biometric scheme, which has raised civil liberties concerns, is likely to be rolled out across the county following a successful trial period at Perth’s Viewlands Primary
2007-09-05 - The Guardian - Brown widens review of impact media violence has on children
Author: Patrick Wintour
Summary: PM rules out censorship, but wants new controls. New look at pre-watershed TV advertising urged. The impact of media violence on children will be the focus of a wider than expected government review being launched today. It may lead to new voluntary controls over excessive violence and sex on children's television and the internet and in video games.
2007-09-04 - 10 Downing Street - PM outlines consultation on children and media
Summary: Gordon Brown has promised a government consulation on the effects of the media on children, announced yesterday, will not be an exercise in censorship. Speaking at his monthly press conference in Downing Street, the Prime Minister said that parents were right to expect the Government to do "everything in its power" to protect children from "harmful material" in a multi-media age. Mr Brown added that the explosion in sources of information was "a good thing in so many different ways" and that he was "not interested in censorship at all", but rules were needed to promote appropriate use. The Prime Minister said: "The sources of information for children from a very young age now are the internet, television, commercial advertising. That is a good thing in so many different ways, but where there is pornographic or violent material, any parent is going to be concerned." "The whole purpose of this review would be to draw advice from all sources so we can look at this in a sensible way. [The review will aim] to make sure that our children, while given every opportunity to benefit from new technology and the new media, are also protected against some of the malign influences that are trying to operate through that media'. Mr Brown said that the review would also cover television and aspects such as the watershed hour and advertising. More details of the consultation are expected tomorrow
2007-08-27 - The Times - Safety fears over new register of all children
Author: Francis Elliott
Summary: Senior social workers have given warning of the dangrs posed by a new government register that will store the details of every child in England from next year. They fear that the database, containing the address, medical and school details of all under-18s, could be used to harm the children whom it is intended to protect.
2007-08-27 - The Times - Uncontactable. A ‘complete’ list of Britain’s children turns out to be anything but
Summary: The added benefit of a new national children’s database is arguable at best. Public confidence in it will be undermined from the start if some information is withheld on such subjective grounds as who qualifies as a celebrity. What information is included may be too basic to be useful, and it may not even include nonpermanent UK residents — such as Victoria Climbié. The Government should spend the money on child safety measures that are less invidious, and less invasive.
2007-08-21 - The Telegraph - School uniforms to be tracked by satellite
Author: Graeme Paton
Summary: School uniforms could be fitted with satellite technology to allay parents' fears A Mother is outraged that her son was fingerprinted at his primary school without permission.Roberta Smart only found out her nine-year-old son Kelsey had his thumbs scanned when he overheard her talking about fingerprinting.
2007-08-21 - This is Gloucestershire - Is it right to finger print our children?
Summary: Gloucestershire schools have been fingerprinting children as young as four. The biometric scanning is used so children can take books out of school libraries. over child abduction. Trutex, a specialist supplier, is considering putting GPS tracking devices in new clothes amid increasing concerns over safety. The company surveyed 800 parents and found that more than two in five feared their young children were at risk of being snatched. In addition, 59 per cent said they would be "interested" in some form of tracking device being added to school uniforms....
2007-08-10 - Bloomberg - U.K. Churches, Scouts May Fingerprint Leaders, IDs Chief Says
Author: Kitty Donaldson and Robert Hutton
Summary: James Hall, chief executive of the Identity and Passport Service, said "While people are still nervous about fingerprints and still have a concern that fingerprints are associated with criminality, we're gradually moving away from that," Hall said. "It's amazing how many schools are starting to use fingerprints just as a simple mechanism for checking kids in and out."
2007-07-24 - Kable - Schools biometric guidance 'lacks clarity'
Summary: An MP has attacked the government's biometrics advice to schools for failing to enshrine in law a parent's right to be consulted. Lib Dems MP Greg Mulholland told the Commons on 23 July 2007 that the guidance failed to introduce a legal requirement for schools to acquire parental consent before collecting their child's biometric data.
2007-07-24 - Kable - Becta gives schools biometric data guidance
Summary: The British Educational Communications and Technology Agency has published guidance for schools on how to implement biometrics in line with data protection laws
2007-07-04 - BBC News - School scans children's prints
Summary: A Bristol academy is to scan students' fingerprints to allow them to get their lunch. The £20,000 scheme will be launched at the City Academy - the first to be built in the city - from September. The school said the biometric system did not keep a photographic record, could not be used for police evidence and did not infringe civil liberties. It also plans to introduce biometric controls to get into the school from next term and to control printing. But Clare Stephenson, 43, who has a daughter in year 10 at the school, said she was outraged by the lack of discussion.
2007-06-22 - Norfolk Eastern Daily Press - School adopts fingerprint canteen
Summary: Fingerprint recognition systems and mathematical algorithms may sound like something from a hi-tech spy film. But for pupils at a Lowestoft school, they are to become simply part of the daily routine of ordering their school dinners. The new technology is part of a “cashless catering” drive, giving students the opportunity to pay on account and avoid the daily scramble for dinner money. ... The school's IT manager, Toby Hacker, said: "The scan plots up to 45 points on the fingerprint, then turns them into a long, unique number, like a barcode." "Only this number will be stored, not the image itself, so there can be no worry of anyone passing fingerprint information on."
2007-06-22 - The Guardian - Schools warn of abuse risk from IT database
Author: James Meikle
Summary: Misuse of an electronic database holding sensitive information on 11 million children in England could lead to millions of breaches of security each year, it is claimed today. Privacy campaigners and independent schools have warned of the "enormous" potential for abuse of the huge IT system to be launched next year. ... But today's letter, signed by representatives of the Independent Schools Council, Action on Rights for Children, the Foundation for Information Policy Research, the Open Rights Group and Privacy International, says that the problems of "a potentially leaky and inadequate system" must be solved before the plan goes further. It claims that evidence from Leeds NHS trust last year suggested that in one month staff logged 70,000 incidents of inappropriate access. "On the basis of these figures, misuse of the ContactPoint system could run to 1,650,000 incidents a month."
2007-06-20 - This is Hertfordshire - Is your child being fingerprinted?
Author: Martin Buhagiar
Summary: Children as young as five are being fingerprinted by their schools. A survey of Local Education Authorities (LEAs) in England has revealed that at least 285 schools are fingerprinting children. However that figure is believed to be higher and will rise substantially with schools expected to be told by Ministers that they have the right to collect biometric data and install fingerprint scanners this week. Critics say collecting fingerprints from children will put them at risk of identity thieves. The Government wants personal data, which could also include eyeball scans, to be used to monitor attendance.
2007-06-18 - The Guardian - 330,000 users to have access to database on England's children
Author: Lucy Ward
Summary: A giant electronic database containing sensitive information on all 11 million children in England will be open to at least 330,000 users when it launches next year, according to government guidance. A final consultation on the plan reveals that the index, intended to help children's services work together more effectively following the death of Victoria Climbié, will be accessible through any computer linked to the internet, whether at work or at home, providing users have the correct two-part security authentication.
2007-06-18 - The Telegraph - Schools can take pupils' fingerprints
Author: Graeme Paton, Education Correspondent
Summary: Schools can take fingerprints of pupils as young as five under new measures unveiled by the Government. Ministers are preparing to issue guidance for the first time telling headteachers they have the right to collect biometric data for security reasons. The information could be used to monitor attendance, control entry to the school building and allow pupils to take books out of libraries. But the move has been criticised by civil liberty groups and opposition MPs, who fear that data may be stolen by identity thieves. Official guidance will say that personal data, including fingerprints and eyeball scans, can be collected from pupils, although schools must consult parents before installing the technology.
2007-06-18 - The Independent - Fingerprinting and eye scans for children as young as five
Author: Marie Woolf
Summary: Schools are to get the go-ahead to fingerprint pupils as young as five, in new measures to be approved by the Government. Ministers will issue guidance telling schools they have the right to collect biometric data and install fingerprint scanners. But the decision has angered opposition MPs who say collecting fingerprints from children will be a gift to identity thieves. The guidance will say that personal data, including fingerprints and eyeball scans, can be collected from pupils and used to monitor attendance, so long as schools consult parents first and do not share the data with outside bodies.
2007-06-12 - The Weston Mercury - School scanner watches pupils' diets
Summary: The latest fingerprint scanners are being introduced at a new state-of-the-art school restaurant. From September, the new system at the £1.6million restaurant at Worle Community School means pupils will no longer use cash to pay for meals at the till, but will have their fingers scanned instead.
2007-06-08 - Biometrics in schools - Local Council issues guidelines to schools
Author: Pippa King
Summary: Portsmouth City Council are the first council in the UK to issue guidelines to their schools regarding using biometric fingerprint technology with pupils.
2007-06-06 - Oxford Mail - Father bans school from fingerprinting daughter
Author: Chris Buratta
Summary: A father has refused permission for his daughter's Oxford school to take her fingerprints - fearing it is step towards a 'Big Brother' state. ... "There may be advantages in having a fingerprint database, but the price you pay is too high." He refused to allow his daughter's fingerprints to be taken and was also concerned that the school had not contacted parents. He added: "It is as if they know it is wrong and have done it secretly, hoping no-one finds out."
2007-06-04 - politics.co.uk - 'Hundreds' of schools fingerprint pupils
Summary: Thousands of school children are potentially being fingerprinted, the Liberal Democrats claim. A survey of Local Education Authorities (LEAs) discovered 285 schools regularly fingerprint pupils and store their biometric details on record, adding the real figure could be higher. Despite this, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) has not issued any guidance on when and how biometric data should be collected and stored.
2007-06-04 - Oxford Mail - Five schools hold pupils' fingerprints
Author: Chris Buratta
Summary: Parents at five Oxfordshire schools have been promised that fingerprint data held on their children is secure. Headteachers have defended the use of fingerprint recognition software following national calls for tighter controls.
2007-06-04 - The Guardian - Call for controls on school fingerprinting
Author: Liz Ford
Summary: The government was criticised today for not setting clear guidelines for fingerprinting pupils after figures showed that nearly 300 schools in England were using some form of biometric system. ... The party's concerns go back to March, when in questions to ministers in the House of Lords, the Lib Dem education spokeswoman Lady Walmsley was among several peers to express concerns about how many schools were operating biometric technologies. ... The party also claimed that education authorities did not know if parental consent had been obtained in four-fifths of the schools that collected fingerprinting. The survey found that of the 285 schools, 48 had asked for parental consent, 12 had not and 225 had no information on whether consent had been obtained.
2007-06-04 - Daily Mail - 300 schools fingerprinting their pupils
Summary: At least 285 English schools are fingerprinting pupils without any Government guidance, a Liberal Democrat investigation revealed today. The report claims only a quarter of local education authorities (LEAs) had details about the use of fingerprinting and the Government has no idea how many children have their information stored.
2007-06-04 - Evening Standard - 300 schools fingerprinting their pupils
Summary: At least 285 English schools are fingerprinting pupils without any Government guidance, a Liberal Democrat investigation revealed today. The report claims only a quarter of local education authorities (LEAs) had details about the use of fingerprinting and the Government has no idea how many children have their information stored.
2007-06-04 - Liberal Democrates - Figures reveal hundreds of schools that fingerprint children
Author: Sarah Teather MP
Summary: The Liberal Democrats are urging parents to check whether their children attend one of nearly 300 schools in England that are fingerprinting pupils. A Liberal Democrat survey of Local Education Authorities (LEAs) in England has revealed that at least 285 schools are fingerprinting children, but the figure is likely to be much higher. Schools in Alan Johnson's own constituency are amongst those collecting biometric data of their pupils, without any guidance from the Government. The survey also revealed that: * Only a quarter of LEAs had details about the use of fingerprinting in schools; the Government has refused to issue guidance on the issue and has no idea how many children are being fingerprinted. * Education authorities did not have information regarding whether parental consent had been obtained in four-fifths of the schools that collect fingerprinting. * Schools are also fingerprinting pupils in the constituencies of former Education Minister David Miliband and Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.
2007-06-03 - The Sun - 1m pupils' dabs filed in schools
Author: David Wooding
Summary: Nearly 300 schools have fingerprinted pupils without parents’ consent, it was revealed yesterday. A probe reveals that at least a million children — some as young as five — have had their prints taken. The dabs are used to identify pupils in computerised class registers or library systems. Last night an angry MP called for laws to ban schools building up a dabs database. Last night Schools Minister Jim Knight agreed to draw up strict guidelines.
2007-06-03 - The Telegraph - Schools fingerprint pupils without guidance
Summary: At least 285 schools are fingerprinting pupils without any Government guidance, an investigation by the Liberal Democrats discloses today. The party's report claims that only a quarter of local education authorities (LEAs) in England have details about the use of fingerprinting and the Government has no idea how many children have their information stored.
2007-05-28 - New Statesman - Are our lives safe in their hands?
Author: Victoria Macdonald
Summary: ... I firmly believe that before committing any of this information to a national database, the public must be assured that it is secure. The children’s index is, after all, a system that will store the details of 11 million children and be available to teachers, social workers and others with a “need to know”. The checks and balances, we are told, include ensuring all users undergo training and an enhanced criminal records bureau check. Every request will be audited. But if these security fears are groundless, why has the education minister, Lord Adonis, said: "Children who have a reason for not being traced, for example where there is a threat of domestic violence or where the child has celebrity status, will have their details concealed?"
2007-05-23 - Shropshire Star - Fingerprints for school dinner
Summary: Dinner money is set to become a thing of the past at a Shropshire school due to fingerprint technology which will help pupils pay for their meals.
2007-05-11 - This is Nottingham - A look into our schools' futures?
Author: Chris Birkle
Summary: Having your fingerprints scanned so you can take out a school library book might make some pupils feel like James Bond. Critics would call it another step closer to a surveillance society. Now Big Wood School, in Warren Hill, is looking at taking the process even further - by scanning children's retinas for class registration. It has opened a debate among parents and education leaders.
2007-05-11 - The Register - Half a million kids' DNA on UK police database
Author: Mark Ballard
Summary: Half a million children have had their DNA recorded on Britain's police database, the government admitted yesterday. The number of people being added to the police DNA database is rising rapidly, with a total of 667,737 people added to the database last year, home secretary John Reid said in a parliamentary written answer yesterday.
2007-04-11 - PC Pro - Schools fingerprinting kids without parents' consent
Author: Nicole Kobie
Summary: As many as three-quarters of school authorities allow students' fingerprints to be held in databases - for use as identification for libraries and canteens - according to Conservative Party data. According to media reports confirmed by a conservative party spokesperson, a Freedom of Information Act request revealed that 132 of 171 local education authorities - some 17,000 thousand schools covering 5.9 million children - in the UK allow fingerprinting of students.
2007-04-09 - The Sun - Schools to fingerprints kids
Author: Tom Harvey
Summary: Almost six million children at 17,000 schools could have their fingerprints taken. Soaring numbers of schools require pupils to have biometric checks to register, borrow books or buy food. It emerged that less than one quarter of local education authorities have banned collecting fingerprints.
2007-04-09 - The Independent - Schools may fingerprint six million children
Author: Nigel Morris
Summary: Almost six million children at 17,000 schools could have their fingerprints taken, intensifying fears of the growth of a "surveillance society" where personal information is gathered from cradle to grave. ... Damian Green, Tory home affairs spokesman, said: "This is very disturbing. Most parents would be horrified to know their children might be fingerprinted without their knowledge and without knowing what happens to that information in the future. As a country we need to wake up to what's happening - we're getting more and more surveillance of our lives without a proper public debate about what's happening." ... Phil Booth, spokesman for the NO2ID group, said: "As fears grow about adults' biometrics b