High school's new fingerprint technology is said to stop vandalism in restrooms – but is it an invasion of privacy?
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Students at a high school in the southwest of Sydney are being instructed to scan their fingerprints during class time to gain access to the school's restrooms, which has led to the school coming under fire from the local community.
Moorebank High School claims that it spent thousands of dollars per year renovating and fixing bathrooms that had been vandalised, which led to the school deciding to use a biometric system.
A Sydney high school implements fingerprint technology to prevent bathroom vandalism. Credit: Kilito Chan/Getty Images.
The technology, which was implemented after two years of discussion with the school's community focus group, does not collect fingerprint data. In its place, an alphabetic representation of the fingerprint is generated, and the record is then stored remotely.
The system is also totally optional, and students can still use the restrooms by getting an access card from the office.
'The system will roll out in term three for the external student toilets only,' said Vally Grego, the school's principal. 'We are introducing this system to monitor students' movement during class time and to reduce the incidents of vandalism. We will then investigate the upgrade to the toilets.'
Daniel Scutella, a student in 11th grade, said he avoided using the facilities because he was so used to seeing the vandalism (smeared faeces on the walls and ceiling, urine on the floor, damage to the doors) that he waited until he got home just to relieve himself.
'Often there's been cases where people have thrown their poo on the ceiling,' he said. 'It happens a few times a year at least. It's quite disgusting.'
Even though almost all of the 1,000 students have already agreed and consented to have their fingerprints taken, this decision hasn't gotten everyone's full support.
Many parents have voiced concerns to the school regarding the system. Credit: ABC.
Many parents have complained to the institution, claiming that the school has violated their children's right to privacy by prying into their private biometric information.
Concerned mum Kylie Anderson claimed that as soon as she learned about the situation, she called the school and asked them to remove her daughter's fingerprints from their database immediately.
'I rang the school straight away and told them to delete my daughter's fingerprint. She's not a criminal; you've taken my rights away because you didn't ask me for consent, no email, no nothing,' she said in an interview with a news outlet.
Privacy experts have also joined the conversation and pointed out that preventing vandalism is not a good enough reason to invade someone's privacy and collect their personal information.
Student privacy should be protected, according to Digital Rights Watch's Project Lead Samantha Floreani, who said that children should be able to use the restroom without fear of having their location tracked and other biometric data collected.
'If there were to be a data breach, for example – if the information was to be accessed by someone who's not authorised, or if there was a leak, or if there was a hack – then suddenly you've got a student fingerprint being accessed by people who shouldn't have access to that information,' she went on to say.
'And then that creates all kinds of risks for those students, for example, identity fraud, or it could potentially be linked with all kinds of other information.'
Two years ago, parents and teachers in the school's Community Focus Group came up with the idea. Credit: Google Maps.
About two years ago, the school brought up the idea of a 'fingerprint data collection system' with parents in the Community Focus Group.
In their defence, the group of parents and faculty members admitted that they were initially hesitant to use the biometric information of minors; however, they ultimately decided in favour of it because it was the least intrusive option that was available to them.
Julia Scutella, Daniel's mum and president of the Community Focus Group, said: 'It's not like you can put cameras in there. You can't put a security guard in there – that's absurd.'
'Once we started seeing it was the type of tech that has already been tried and tested before, and it's not going to be obligatory, and it's going to give some sense of control over an area that has such little control, then it's worth giving a try,' the woman continued.
'If we don't do something and see what the results are, then we won't know.'
Although the school claims the fingerprint system's visitor log would help them catch the troublemakers responsible for the school bathrooms being vandalised, it's also being reported that the technology will help them crack down on the rising trend of kids vaping in restrooms during class time.
When asked how he felt about the school collecting their fingerprints and whether he felt his privacy had been invaded, Daniel responded that he thought using his fingerprint to gain access to the restrooms was a fair trade.
'I don't mind it; my fingerprint doesn't feel that important to me,' he said. 'It's worth it if it can put a bit of responsibility on the people who are ruining it for the rest of the school, and I appreciate that.'
What do you think, folks? In your opinion, does the method of collecting students' fingerprints violate their right to the protection of their privacy and personal information? Or do you believe that it is necessary to stop these acts of vandalism? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!
Moorebank High School claims that it spent thousands of dollars per year renovating and fixing bathrooms that had been vandalised, which led to the school deciding to use a biometric system.
A Sydney high school implements fingerprint technology to prevent bathroom vandalism. Credit: Kilito Chan/Getty Images.
The technology, which was implemented after two years of discussion with the school's community focus group, does not collect fingerprint data. In its place, an alphabetic representation of the fingerprint is generated, and the record is then stored remotely.
The system is also totally optional, and students can still use the restrooms by getting an access card from the office.
'The system will roll out in term three for the external student toilets only,' said Vally Grego, the school's principal. 'We are introducing this system to monitor students' movement during class time and to reduce the incidents of vandalism. We will then investigate the upgrade to the toilets.'
Daniel Scutella, a student in 11th grade, said he avoided using the facilities because he was so used to seeing the vandalism (smeared faeces on the walls and ceiling, urine on the floor, damage to the doors) that he waited until he got home just to relieve himself.
'Often there's been cases where people have thrown their poo on the ceiling,' he said. 'It happens a few times a year at least. It's quite disgusting.'
Even though almost all of the 1,000 students have already agreed and consented to have their fingerprints taken, this decision hasn't gotten everyone's full support.
Many parents have voiced concerns to the school regarding the system. Credit: ABC.
Many parents have complained to the institution, claiming that the school has violated their children's right to privacy by prying into their private biometric information.
Concerned mum Kylie Anderson claimed that as soon as she learned about the situation, she called the school and asked them to remove her daughter's fingerprints from their database immediately.
'I rang the school straight away and told them to delete my daughter's fingerprint. She's not a criminal; you've taken my rights away because you didn't ask me for consent, no email, no nothing,' she said in an interview with a news outlet.
Privacy experts have also joined the conversation and pointed out that preventing vandalism is not a good enough reason to invade someone's privacy and collect their personal information.
Student privacy should be protected, according to Digital Rights Watch's Project Lead Samantha Floreani, who said that children should be able to use the restroom without fear of having their location tracked and other biometric data collected.
'If there were to be a data breach, for example – if the information was to be accessed by someone who's not authorised, or if there was a leak, or if there was a hack – then suddenly you've got a student fingerprint being accessed by people who shouldn't have access to that information,' she went on to say.
'And then that creates all kinds of risks for those students, for example, identity fraud, or it could potentially be linked with all kinds of other information.'
Two years ago, parents and teachers in the school's Community Focus Group came up with the idea. Credit: Google Maps.
About two years ago, the school brought up the idea of a 'fingerprint data collection system' with parents in the Community Focus Group.
In their defence, the group of parents and faculty members admitted that they were initially hesitant to use the biometric information of minors; however, they ultimately decided in favour of it because it was the least intrusive option that was available to them.
Julia Scutella, Daniel's mum and president of the Community Focus Group, said: 'It's not like you can put cameras in there. You can't put a security guard in there – that's absurd.'
'Once we started seeing it was the type of tech that has already been tried and tested before, and it's not going to be obligatory, and it's going to give some sense of control over an area that has such little control, then it's worth giving a try,' the woman continued.
'If we don't do something and see what the results are, then we won't know.'
Although the school claims the fingerprint system's visitor log would help them catch the troublemakers responsible for the school bathrooms being vandalised, it's also being reported that the technology will help them crack down on the rising trend of kids vaping in restrooms during class time.
When asked how he felt about the school collecting their fingerprints and whether he felt his privacy had been invaded, Daniel responded that he thought using his fingerprint to gain access to the restrooms was a fair trade.
'I don't mind it; my fingerprint doesn't feel that important to me,' he said. 'It's worth it if it can put a bit of responsibility on the people who are ruining it for the rest of the school, and I appreciate that.'
What do you think, folks? In your opinion, does the method of collecting students' fingerprints violate their right to the protection of their privacy and personal information? Or do you believe that it is necessary to stop these acts of vandalism? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!
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