Library card? Check. Fingerprint? Really?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Don Drake <don () drakeconsult com>
Date: May 20, 2005 12:09:06 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Library card? Check. Fingerprint? Really?


For IP…



From today’s Chicago Tribune, a suburban library will require a  
fingerprint to use computers.   This is crazy.





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



Donald Drake

President

Drake Consulting

http://www.drakeconsult.com/

312-560-1574







Here’s the article:



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.



Library officials say the added security is necessary to ensure  
people who are using the computers are who they say they are.



Officials promise to protect the confidentiality of the fingerprint  
records.



But with Congress contemplating an expansion of the USA Patriot Act,  
which gives federal authorities access to confidential library  
records, and cameras watching the streets some Chicagoans drive or  
the sidewalks they stroll, privacy advocates are concerned about yet  
another erosion of personal liberty.



"We take people's fingerprints because we think they might be guilty  
of something, not because they want to use the library," said Ed  
Yohnka, spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois.



Yohnka said Naperville may mean well, but that does not mean the  
technology won't be used for something else at a later date.



"You're creating just another database of information about people,"  
Yohnka said. "I'm sure they started out with the best of intentions  
of not sharing this information, but the reality is sometimes  
intentions go awry."



Currently patrons use their library cards and personal identification  
numbers to access the computers.



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.



Last May, when Naperville police demanded the account information of  
a man who had fondled himself in front of teenagers while viewing  
pornography in the computer lab at Nichols Library, the library  
refused to release the information without a subpoena, citing the  
Illinois Library Records Confidentiality Act.



Naperville police obtained the subpoena and later arrested Richard  
Blaszak, 35, of Naperville.



In January, Blaszak pleaded guilty to public indecency and was  
sentenced to 2 years of probation. He is prohibited by court order  
from using computers in DuPage County libraries during his probation.



During the investigation of the incident, library officials  
discovered that many patrons logged onto library computers using  
library cards and passwords of friends or relatives. That  
realization, coupled with a new library policy that allows parents to  
install automatic Internet filters on their children's accounts,  
prompted the search for better computer security, West said.



West said he had to be convinced that the technology would protect  
patron privacy before he would recommend it to the Library Board.


"Confidentiality and privacy [are] my middle name," West said.

West said the library is requiring a fingerprint to set up computer  
access, although patrons who object could ask a staff member to log  
them on to a computer.

"I'm sure we won't turn anybody away who refuses to use the  
technology, but in all honesty, it will be more cumbersome," West said.

The American Library Association said only one other system uses  
fingerprint-scanning technology: the Buffalo-Erie County Library  
System, a collection of 52 public libraries that serves 400,000  
people in upstate New York.

Ann Kling, support services manager, said the library launched a  
fingerprint recognition program at the main library in downtown  
Buffalo in 2001.

The library offers fingerprint scans as an optional replacement for  
library cards. The system is limited to the library in downtown  
Buffalo and consequently only 1,787 patrons use it, Kling said.

Because the use of the technology is so limited, American Library  
Association officials said the organization has not taken an official  
stand on it.

Deborah Caldwell-Stone, deputy director of the ALA's office of  
intellectual freedom, acknowledged that requiring a fingerprint scan  
might dissuade some people from using library computers.

"There are going to be folks who come from different political  
situations, folks who come out of Central Europe who have had a  
history of living under authoritative regimes who may not be  
comfortable with this," Caldwell-Stone said.

But Caldwell-Stone said libraries already collect all kinds of  
personal information from patrons and at some point must be trusted  
to protect it.

U.S. Biometrics President Dave Delgrosso said his company's  
technology is seeping into the mainstream, popping up in banks,  
hospitals and other institutions where exact identifications are  
important.

----------

Jkimberly () tribune com







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