[Bodington-developers] Biometrics

[Jon M. <jo...@te...>]

Selwyn Lloyd wrote:
> there are currently trials of pubs and clubs using thumbprint 
> biometrics to curb violent drunks... if you don't have your thumb 
> scanned then you can't go in the pub / club... :)

A depressing symptom of the surveillance society.  Here's the problem: 
if you want your customers to stay on the premises as long as possible 
and spend as much money as possible then you have to deal with them up 
to the point where they are senseless and incapable of spending any more 
money. The difficulty is that people behave badly before the point when 
they are drunk enough to fall over unconscious and that might inhibit 
the sober potential customers from entering the premises. The answer is 
to subject the customers to intense surveillance and use highly visible 
security staff. The, as yet, sober customer can be persuaded that these 
measures are there to make them safe. They may be unaware that the 
greatest danger that they are subjected to is the liver damage that 
comes from excessive alcohol consumption. (Personally I'd rather get a 
broken nose from a violent drunk than cirrhosis of the liver.)

The authorities are prepared to tolerate bars who encourage antisocial 
drinking so long as the management clamp down on the short term 
consequences (hence the use of biometrics). I would suggest that a 
better solution is to take away the bar's license if they are found 
selling alcohol to people who are excessively drunk or aggressive.

Similarly the use of biometric 'signatures' on reports of educational 
outcomes etc. may be a technological sticking plaster for a problem that 
needs a more humane analysis. What is the perceived lack of trust that 
leads people to believe that this technology is required? Who is 
cheating or who is being negligent? Who is mistrustful? Are students 
fabricating reports on their educational activities? Are cleverer 
friends of students doing their industrial placements for them? Are 
students writing their own reports on themselves in place of the 
mentor's report? Wouldn't a little bit of communication between tutors, 
mentors, supervisors etc. prevent this? Any reputable college knows how 
to invigilate traditional examinations and keep secure records of the 
results - couldn't they be persuaded to use procedures of a similar 
standard to verify the authenticity of qualitative information about the 
student too? Give the examinations office a digital certificate and let 
them use it to sign a plain text file which the student can take away 
and email to whoever they like. If the file has the name, gender and age 
of the student what more do you need? Perhaps a simple passport style 
picture could be included but even without that you already have better 
security than the printed degree certificate which is tried and trusted 
over centuries. To be honest the best security is a good interview when 
the student applies for a job. It's fairly easy to find out if the 
student actually learned anything from the activities they claim to have 
taken part in with a few well aimed questions.

Sorry to be so negative but you've hit a raw nerve. As you can tell, I 
am vehemently opposed to surveillance of people who are not criminals 
and who are not suspected of being criminals. The use of biometric 
information (whether encoded electronically or not) is strongly 
associated with repressive regimes and the acceptance of it by the 
majority (who have no need to fear it) is in my opinion a form of 
collaboration with whichever future regime  chooses to use it to oppress 
a minority.  For example mass fingerprinting and official racial 
classification in South Africa would not have occurred if it had been 
resisted by the white population who were not themselves threatened by it.

Jon