Fourteen schools in South Jeolla Province have been using electronic fingerprint recognition devices to prevent students who have not paid their meal program fees from eating school lunches. Taking fingerprints for Resident Registration Cards [Korea's national identity cards] is controversial enough with charges that the activity infringes on civil rights, and yet these schools are maintaining fingerprint records of all their students to make things more convenient for their food service facilities. It makes you worry to think that schools have such a low level of awareness about civil rights.
One can understand that identification cards and bar codes are inadequate in identifying students who receive school lunches. Clearly there times when students who have not paid their fees wrongfully use others' ID cards. Then there are students who are inconvenienced when they lose their ID's. Still, it goes too far to register students' fingerprints for the convenience of food service management. With the kind of logic at work there anyplace that needs to identify people can maintain peoples' unique biometric data. School cafeterias did the numbers and thought only so far as that installing W7 million fingerprint recognition devices would be financially worthwhile. They did not think of students' rights.
The attitude of school administrations responsible for management and oversight are even more a problem. In most cases schools took fingerprints without parental approval. Even in cases where parents gave approval it is hard to believe they fully recognized the problem. It also leaves you wondering when you learn that all 14 schools are using devices produced by the very same company.
No one should be able to maintain peoples' biometric data as they please. The ill effects of doing so are too great. This is not the first time there have been accusations that fingerprint recognition devices have been installed for commercial purposes. Last September a university dormitory installed them, saying it was going to eradicate the problems that occur when student identity cards get lost. Eventually it stopped using the devices because of student opposition and demands from civil rights groups. We hope to see these schools realize the seriousness of the problem and themselves be the ones to make the choice to stop maintaining biometric data on students. The National Human Rights Commission should take the opportunity to suggest standards for the use of personal biometric information.
The Hankyoreh, 14 April 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]