Pippa King, blogger and campaigner against the use of biometrics in schools without consent, paid a visit to the NO2NP Facebook page after the above post was put out.
In response to a comment about fingerprinting schoolchildren she said: "Schools have been doing this since 2001. In 2012 the Protection of Freedoms Act made it compulsory for schools to ask for parents` permission to take and process biometric data from their children but this is only applicable in England and Wales, not Scotland or Northern Ireland - which is something I'm working on. For more information see http://pippaking.blogspot.co.uk 'Biometrics in Schools' hope that helps."
She went on: "Schools can take children's biometrics and not tell parents in Scotland and NI because biometric data is not considered 'sensitive' under the Data Protection Act; so schools don't need parents` permission to take it and process it. Children's Sensitive personal data needs a parent`s permission for schools to process it..."
Dee Thomas "Pippa King so do we have any idea how many schools in Scotland are using biometric data to allow access to services?" [dining halls, libraries etc]
Pippa King "Hi Dee, no - but this month I'm sending out a Freedom of Information on this to just over 90 Scottish Secondary schools so we should have an idea around Christmas. When I get this info hopefully we might get some MSPs willing to see about extending the Protection of Freedoms Act consent to Scotland and NI."
"But roughly a conservative estimate of schools using this (most predominately secondary schools) is about 40% that do, however in some Local Authorities in England that can rise to 80+% of secondary schools using biometrics..."
_____________________
In the same week Pippa King appeared on Ian R Crane`s Humanity versus Insanity:
"China’s investment in Britain came under fresh scrutiny last night after Beijing was revealed to be the country’s biggest provider of surveillance equipment."
"Hikvision, a company controlled by the Chinese government, has sold more than a million closed-circuit television cameras and recorders to British clients who have installed them at sites including airports, government buildings, sports stadiums and the London Underground."
"Former MI6 officers and security ministers called for greater oversight of Chinese business after an investigation revealed that no national security assessment had been made of Hikvision’s British operations. Some suggest that the cameras could be hacked from Beijing."
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/fears-over-rise-of-chinese-cctv-m0j3bt6gvIan read out extracts from a newspaper article about Hikvision in China:
"Hikvision is central to the government`s Orwellian programme to spy on its 1.3 billion citizens, and is inextricably linked to the totalitarian crackdown on those considered `enemies of the state`."
"More worrryingly, Hickvision vice-president Pu Shiliang, 38, is also technical leader of a key laboratory at the Ministry of Public Security, the feared body that has been accused of the extrajudicial arrest and detention of thousands of lawyers, activists and perceived government opponents within China every year."
"Hikvision`s high-tech CCTV systems can `see in the dark, track vehicles, and count the number of people entering and leaving a building, as well as boasting unparalled `face-tracking` technology."
"They are even able to identify a person by their gait."
"These capacities enable the Chinese authorities to track dissidents, activists and human-rights campaigners, who are routinely rounded up and detained."
"Well they could have been talking about Glasgow," says Pippa King.
China
Glasgow
No comments:
Post a Comment