Parents Upset Over Lunchtime Palm Scanner-gctid60170

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Parents Upset Over Lunchtime Palm Scanner- The Family Room - MSN Living

$300,000 system leads to privacy concerns.

By MSN Living Editor - Rebekah Schilperoort Fri 8:08 PM

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Parents  of students at Carroll County schools in Baltimore, Md., say a new  policy that scans kids' palms to pay for their lunches goes too far.

 

With  the PalmSecure system, students hover their hands over an infrared  scanner that ID's them by the unique patterns in their skin and  registers a sale, according to a report from the Daily Herald.

 The Herald  talked to Mike Richmond, who has two children at a Westminster  elementary school. He said the scanning started before parents were  given the chance to opt-out.
 "I didn't appreciate how they  handled it. I'm concerned about it. I know it's the way of the future,  but it's fingerprinting, it's palm-printing."

 The district said  the goal is to decrease the time it takes to pay for lunches since the  children have a limited amount of time to eat their meals.

 The  controversial system is operating in three Carroll County elementary  schools with plans to expand to the whole district within a year. It's  also used in many other schools around the country where there have also  been concerns about invasion of privacy as well as the cost of the  system. Once implemented, PalmSecure will run the Carroll County  district about $300,000.

 Bing: Read more about the story.