YOU ARE A CRIMINAL UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT---A BEDTIME STORY

2/6/2014

Just a few days ago the Miami Herald, Florida, newspaper ran a story headlined: Lawmakers To Consider Banning Biometrics in Schools. The Pinellas County school district started using biometrics (iris scans, fingerprint scans, and palm readers...not the ones wearing turbans and earrings...) in the school cafeterias. When the Polk and Seminole County school districts instituted their own programs Florida legislators started getting the message that there was opposition to data collection on minors. Now some Florida legislators are proposing a bill to block biometric data collection in the schools.

Really? Now we need a bill to protect our first amendment rights? We need a legislator writing a bill in order to stop a school district from violating the rights of children? For the people who think that this is a tempest in a lunch bag, let me remind you that these elementary, junior, and senior high school students are a few years away from adulthood. They are being fingerprinted. Their irises are being scanned. Their palm prints are being recorded. These people have not committed a crime. Right now, in America, you only have to give your fingerprints to the 'authorities' if you commit a crime (or are accused of committing a crime). You may voluntarily give this information if you want a 'sensitive job' or a passport, but THIS ACTION IS VOLUNTARY. In Pinellas, Seminole, and Polk counties, childrens' identities are being data mined prior to the age of consent. Not only do the school officials not have the right to take their information, but I posit that their parents don't have the right to give this information to the government either. This decision is one that should be made by each individual.

Here in America, a school district bureaucrat can justify violating civil rights to privacy because “The biggest benefit of having this system is that it allows students more time to eat their lunch,” Marquez Parra said. “That’s what this is all about.”

But this is not 'what this is all about'. This is all about INVENTORY, MONITORING, AND CONTROL. This is UN Agenda 21.

RESIST.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/02/02/3909538/lawmakers-to-consider-banning.html#storylink=cpy

Tim McKnight

2/7/2014 11:43:49 am

Hi Rosa,

It's not just the kids they're targeting. Recently in Australia we've had motorcycle groups come under the microscope, ostensibly to crack down on crime, but the subtext is a gradual crackdown on freedom of association. But we don't have the same explicit constitutional protections you have in the USA; ours are implicit and more open to interpretation.

So now, under the auspices of safety, and old favourite of authoritarians, workers on new government-funded construction sites will have to be subject to not only drug and alcohol checks, but also biometric ID and CCTV surveillance.

From the Melbourne, Victoria Herald Sun newspaper:

"EXCLUSIVE: WORKERS on all new government-funded projects including the East West Link tunnel will face mandatory drug and alcohol testing on site from the middle of the year.

The crackdown on the unionised workforce has been prompted by widespread concerns about drug use and dealing on construction sites.

Companies bidding for government work would also have to promise to include other "security measures" on site, including CCTV and biometric scanners, in a move Premier Denis Napthine said would address fraud and theft."

So because of the bad behaviour of a few, all will be subjected to surveillance. How very communitarian: give up a few liberties for the greater good. And another small victory for the nothing-to-hide, nothing-to-fear crowd, who shiver with glee whenever more CCTV coverage rolls out for the most spurious of reasons.

2/7/2014 11:45:25 am

And here's the link to the story:

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/construction-workers-face-random-drug-alcohol-testing/story-fni0fit3-1226819024243#social-comments

Lee

2/8/2014 09:51:38 pm

Hi Rosa, I am convinced that on the local level the stormwater management plans that counties make townships large and small submit (mandatory) is very interesting. We have a lot of streams, and the language about stormwater mgmt borders on obsessive. Yet this winter I noticed a huge amount of rock salt on the streets, parking lots and sidewalks in frozen piles everywhere. This washes right down curbs, drives into sewers and into streams so so so much more than maybe 50 residents washing their own car in their own driveway or changing their own oil once or twice a yr, which is what twps are starting to write ordinances about, My twp officials attend workshops at our regional planning commission about reducing deterrgent/oily run off by residents - who ironically aren't doing one iota of polluting compared to the very townships. Is stormwater management a back door to controlling people's yards? I've googled this story and can't find opposition to it. Maybe it is just me. Way to go Rosa, thank you for everything you do.

Pam

2/22/2014 10:45:56 pm

Just after the beginning of the school year here in Mexico in my state, our schools started to set up biometric collection points for the children. They were collecting this data, including iris scans from our children to participate in a non-manditory national ID program for minors of age.

The way the school did this was decieving. My oldest child gave me a permission slip to sign (one of many that we get) and I asked "what's this one about". Then she mentioned that the kids will "have their eyes scanned". So I looked closer at the innocent looking permission slip and also into the program itself (RENAPO) and lo and behold the information is readily available on the internet.

The program is to make photo ID's for minors of age that are similar to the Mexican voter ID cards (called IFE) that most adults carry. I also read that it is a VOLUNTARY program. So I wrote on the permission slip (in Spanish) that "my child is not autorized by me to participate in this program". Then I informed my children of the program and why I am opposed to it and that if they are questioned, to tell their teachers that they already have passports with their photographs on them and do not need another ID.

Since children do not have the authority here to make a legal decision like this (giving up their biometric data), the school was asking parents to sign the form which would give consent to this program.

I teach my family to guard their personal information very carefully, and that all information has value. For security and privacy reasons we are opting out of this program. Here's a good article that explains many of the problems of this national children's ID program: http://www.zetatijuana.com/html/Edicion1922/Reportajez_Gobierno_Federal_ficha_menores.html

The article above mentions that the children's ID is unconstitutional and lacks transparency, yet it persists.

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YOU ARE A CRIMINAL UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT---A BEDTIME STORY

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