Biometrics @ Your Library
Well, not my library. I'm nowhere near Naperville (IL) PL ...
Library card? Check. Fingerprint? Really? from the Chicago Tribune [reg. req'd; here]:
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.
Regarding privacy concerns: "The stored numeric data cannot be used to reconstruct a fingerprint, [Library Director Mark] West said, nor can it be cross-referenced with other fingerprint databases such as those kept by the FBI or the Illinois State Police."
The ACLU is dubious. Deborah Caldwell-Stone of ALA-OIF is cautious but not condemning.
Not that you should care, but if it came to my library: I'd probably take a personal position not to use the technology but there would come a day where I'm in downtown {wherever} and I just need to look up an address or my itinerary and I'm already late AND I'm on public transit, so I'd do the fingerprint thing to get the heck out of Dodge already, and I'd feel really guilty about letting convenience override personal conviction and I'd probably do it a few more times, but then I might just start avoiding that library just to avoid the guilt. Or not. Yes, I am a freak.