School cashless canteen?

[Thefatcatssleeping]

My DS school has recently introduced a cashless canteen system. This involves parents/guardians paying money into an account. It was set up by taking a photo of DS and taking his thumb and forefinger print from each hand and when he gets something in the canteen he scans his print on the machine. We get a notification when funds are running low.
Just wondering how many other schools have adapted this system?
There are 1100 pupils in the school.
Never really gave it much thought tbh, but then I asked myself should I be concerned that my child’s photo, name and fingerprints be stored on a school database?
Thoughts please.

Yes just what could biometric data be used for? 😐

I understand why it makes you uncomfortable OP but we find it works really well.

Conditioning. The minions of the future will think nothing of their workplaces etc doing similar then.

Used as evidence of what?

DDs primary school used this system for the Library. It worked really well, no more "no my child absolutely did NOT have that book out" which was decimating a very small, volunteer led library.

Her High School uses it for meals and it's a good system - I can 'top up her finger' any time which means she always has some cash on it if she forgets her lunch etc.

It's not an actual fingerprint that is stored, so it's not as 'big brother' as it sounds.

My DCs’ school uses fingerprints too. Never really thought about it, but I guess yes, if you’re thinking your DC might end up in trouble one day and that their prints will be on record, fair point. I’m sure there was something to agree to when they first started school, but without signing up they couldn’t use the canteen as they don’t take cash, so short of sending food from home, there wasn’t a way round it. I’m sure the T&Cs will spell out how the data is stored and used/who it can be shared with in what circs etc.

Personally I’m of the opinion that if you haven’t done anything wrong, you’ve nothing to fear from your info being stored.

My biggest fear about fingerprint ID is someone chopping off a finger to access your stuff, but I don’t think anyone would bother with that for a bacon roll.

Ours started using it last year. We put money in the parentpay account. You can see what the child has eaten each day as they pay with their fingerprint . We also pay for school trips and other things school related with the same account online and no need to send in money with the kids. Works great. I was very sceptical at first. I was out one day with Dd ran out of money they auto emailed, and I added money over my phone on the paretpay website. I keep a minimal amount in the account.

If you have any concerns over the security arrangements for the data, why not ask for the privacy policy for the third party supplier and ask to see what IT security they have in place for storing the data?

It would bother me re. Finger prints because I think it's an invasion of privacy for anyone.

My childrens school use a number code instead. No issues with their name or DOB though because that's registered everywhere!

Our school uses a similar system for all school payments such as canteen, school trips and some required equipment. They also asked for a “contribution” of £50 towards the running of the school. It certainly saves the faff of finding the cheque book or getting cash that may be lost on the way to school. It also is a tool to lower the rate of bullying.

The text received from DS used to be - ‘mum can you put more money on my finger’

It's a good idea. Sounds normal.

It's quite normal to have your finger print taken for things, including Disney World. They scan your finger upon entry to the park. Think it's a good idea.

How would people feel about this happening in your workplace? At the start, lunch and end of the day say?

How is it different to clocking in and off that is used?

Our school has this too. For over 4 years which is as long as we've been there. You can opt out and the child is issued with a card instead. The readers don't work on occasion and students just have to give their names. I can see each item my DC has had, dated and timestamped ('cheese panini', 'homebake', fruit pot, etc). No complaints here.

My fingerprint is stored for work and probably far less secure knowing the very small company I work for!

Our school uses the card but not a fingerprint. And the school can also print out what your child has been eating which could be very interesting!

My school library check out system was like this. At first there was a bit of outrage but it was made v clear that they wouldn’t be stored just made life easier as library cards were more likely to be lost than fingers. Think a consent form had to be signed just to cover all bases. Should add this was ages ago when biometrics for this use was very new

My sch has a pin code and photo

My work uses fingerprints to log in. It doesn't store the whole fingerprint, just points that have to match up so that you can't recreate and actual fingerprint from what it stored.

My fingerprint is stored for work and probably far less secure knowing the very small company I work for! They've already started that in some workplaces then.

Get your chip inserted or no job. They'll sell it as a convenience to us of course.

Conditioning. The minions of the future will think nothing of their workplaces etc doing similar then

Quite

Is that the best you got SoupDragon