Library card? Check. Fingerprint? Really?

[Walt Starr]

Library card? Check. Fingerprint? Really?
Citing security, Naperville libraries will make patrons prove their identities before using computers. Privacy advocates fear misuse of the data.
By James Kimberly
Tribune staff reporter
Published May 20, 2005


Before long, patrons wanting to use Naperville Public Library System computers without a hassle will have to prove their identity with a fingerprint.

The three-library system this week signed a $40,646 contract with a local company, U.S. Biometrics Corp., to install fingerprint scanners on 130 computers with Internet access or a time limit on usage.

The decision, according to the American Library Association, makes Naperville only the second library system in the country to install fingerprint scanners.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0505200366may20,1,4613732.story?coll=chi-news-hed

[The Straight Story]

1. How did we ever get by

Without all this before in life?

Sheesh. Your tax money hard at work helping others (in this case, corporations).

[Mizmoon]

2. LOL, talk about an over-reaction

that money should have been spent in aquisitions or on some other patron benefit. This is a bad-call by some foolish administrator.

[rodeodance]

3. all fingerprints will end up in Homeland sec. in time!!

[sui generis]

4. so some vendor selling that equipment has got a great pitch

that's the real driver here.

[renaissanceguy]

5. Orwell must be laughing in his grave

I would NEVER give my fingerprint to any governmental agency, or anyone for that matter.


http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues/466053

[JitterbugPerfume]

6. Jeez

how close is THIS to having "thought police"

They can have my fingerprint when I am dead

[ovidsen]

20. I bet they already have our fingerprints.

The technology exists.

[BeFree]

7. It's one way too...

...limit the freedom of the internet.

Libraries should be the last place freedom is restricted. Yet here we have a library restricting freedom to get information totally free from prying government eyes. Conservatives must be raising hell about this, eh?

[Moderator]

8. kick to combine

[salvorhardin]

18. Thanks mods

Didn't mean to dupe Walt's earlier LBN.

I searched before I posted on 'Naperville fingerprint' and didn't turn up anything.

[salvorhardin]

9. Naperville to install fingerprint scanners on library computers

Naperville to install fingerprint scanners on library computers

Associated Press

NAPERVILLE, Ill. - Library officials in this suburb west of Chicago have come up with a high-tech solution for keeping unauthorized visitors from using their computers: fingerprint scans.

The scanners - to be installed on 130 library computers this summer - will verify the identity of computer users.

...

Naperville library officials said the technology cannot be used to reconstruct a person's actual fingerprint. The scanners, made by Naperville-based U.S. Biometrics Corp., use an algorithm to convert 15 or more specific points into a unique numeric sequence.

"Right now we give you a library card with a bar code attached to it. This is just a bar code, but it's built in," said Mark West, the library's deputy director.

more...
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/local/11696182.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

Longer more detailed article in the Chicago Tribune. I chose the AP article because the headline was clearer.

Library card? Check. Fingerprint? Really?
Citing security, Naperville libraries will make patrons prove their identities before using computers. Privacy advocates fear misuse of the data.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0505200366may20,1,4613732.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

On edit: There's also a Slashdot discussion on this topic.
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/05/20/1646225&tid=158&tid=103

[napi21]

10. Why do they feel they have to do this?

Have users been trading library cards? I don't understand.

[Robbien]

12. If you are a resident, the library card is free

But non-residents must pay about $175 a year for the card. That is what happens in my city, and Naperville is part of the group of cities in our library system. So trading of cards might be the problem.

[uncle ray]

15. no way can that be the "problem"

if it was, the scanners would go up at the door of the library, or at the checkout counter, not just at the computers. so it's ok for nonresident users to sneak in and read books, but not use the internet. this is strictly to moniter internet usage. fucking bullshit is what it is! the internet is getting even less anonymous.

[Robbien]

11. With the way the Patriot Act keeps growing

A sane person should be very wary in allowing their fingerprint to get into the system.

[salvorhardin]

13. This is not a full fingerprint

It uses 15 points on your finger to create a unique number. At the currrent time it is unable to be interfaced with AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System), However, imagine your bank starts using the same technology, and then your credit card company and your grocery store. Suddenly you have all four systems using the exact same number to identify you, and thanks to data aggregation firms like Choicepoint and Axiom, this data will be sold and cross-referenced. So, if a system like this becomes widespread, and for some reason, despite the stupidity of biometric ID for these applications, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies will have access to it anyway -- they'll just have to pay.

[Paula Sims]

14. I still don't get it

Since this is the area of the Left Behind movement (actually, it's Wheaton, IL where I'm from but close enough), I'm STUNNED that there isn't a greater outcry from the Fundies about "the mark". Is it because we are so blind that we can't see "the mark" from our own country and only see it from others? Forgive me for doing this, but I'm seeing more and more parallels with 1932 Germany that I ever thought I would. "Not in my backyard" is taking on a whole new meaning. . .


Paula

:scared:

[salvorhardin]

17. I think people have a hard time with technical gimcrackery

In the Chicago Tribune article, the Naperville Library Director rationalizes it so easily.

That will change once the scanners are installed. The glass-topped, silver metal boxes about the size of a package of Tic-Tacs read the print on a patron's index finger and use an algorithm to convert at least 15 specific points into a unique numeric sequence.

Once a patron's fingerprint has been recorded, accessing a computer will require only the touch of a finger.

Library Deputy Director Mark West said the system will be implemented over the summer beginning with a public education campaign in June. West said he is confident the public will embrace the technology once it learns its limitations.

The stored numeric data cannot be used to reconstruct a fingerprint, West said, nor can it be cross-referenced with other fingerprint databases such as those kept by the FBI or the Illinois State Police.

"Right now we give you a library card with a bar code attached to it. This is just a bar code, but it's built in," West said.

See? Nothing to worry about, it's just a barcode you carry with you wherever you go. No harm there right? You wouldn't want them terrorists (or bums) using the library computers that your hard-earned tax dollars payed for. Right? Of course.

I mean, what if they were used to commit a crime? Oh, and we can make sure your kids don't get access to anything objectionable, like pornography -- or websites about evolution. Won't somebody think of the children? :sarcasm:

[Roland99]

16. Use a fake finger

;)

[KamaAina]

25. Is there a Wendy's nearby the library?

Couldn't resist. :spank:

That pretty much sums up, in a macabre, yet South Park-esque sort of way, how I feel about all this intrusive BS. :puke: :puke: :puke:

[Roland99]

26. HA! Good one!

I was actually thinking from Thur. night's CSI finale but, yeah, I think I'll stop by a Wendy's and order some chili before I go to the library next time!

[BigTentDemocrat]

24. Might as well donate a piece of your hair

Everyday, this bad dream just gets worse and worse.

I had this idea today - imagine if all Democrats registered as Republicans and "Trojan Horsed" all neocons during the primaries.

If we can't beat them from the outside, maybe we can beat them from the inside.

TJ

[Chicago Democrat]

19. This is insane. The same thing is happening in Des Plaines!

Somebody was caught wanking at a pc in the library and NOW IT SUCKS!
Like getting a passport now.

its the only decent thing the government gives poor people and it gets ruined!~

[Daphne08]

23. Then he should have been arrested! We should not ALL

have to pay the price.

This country is becoming downright scary.

I cannot believe it either. It just brings me to tears.

I'll never forget (many, many years ago) being in school and learning about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights for the first time.

My father had been in WWII and he used to talk about how fortunate we were in the United States. He was very patriotic and taught me to love our freedoms and not take them for granted.

I taught my own sons about our country and how lucky we were, and when I taught history in high school, I passed that on to my students, too.

I just cannot imagine how my father would react to our loss of privacy if he were alive today.

I think he would try to get along and do his best to understand the situation, but I also believe that at some point, he would stand up and say, Enough!

[grasswire]

21. I suspect the decision makers are getting KICKBACKS

...from the vendors. Isn't that what happened with some jurisdictions that bought voting machines?

[salvorhardin]

22. Could be...

U.S. Biometrics Corp. is located in Naperville.

[Karenina]

27. Things that make ya go

Hmmmmmm.....

[Blaze Diem]

28. Biometric MUST have a Bush relative on the Board of Directos

there are plenty of million$ to be made from George's Patriot/Homeland Security Act.
.."them crafty slithering bush's..evolved from the sperm of old Prescott"..profit at the suffering and indignation of other human beings..

Bush World Order