Julie Quantum Leaps

Fingerprints used to only be given if you were arrested. Not anymore. Now, even the Mouse is involved. Mickey Mouse, that is. Been to Disneyland or Universal Studios lately? Upon entry to the park, you are required to place your finger on the little scanner. Their reasoning is to prevent ticket fraud. A cavity search is less intrusive than this.

You think not? Consider this. Your fingerprint is yours and yours alone and barring a horrible third degree burn accident or amputation, your fingerprint stays with you for life. Handing over your fingerprint is *almost* like handing over your Social Security Card. Thing is, if someone uses your fingerprint for identity theft? Unlike a SS card, you cannot get a new fingerprint.

“Oh, but it’s in good hands. It’s perfectly safe”, you say. Did you know… there are NO rules and regulations about what can and cannot be done with your fingerprint once it’s been scanned. NONE. Everytime you go to a new doctor, they make you sign a paper stating what they can and can’t do with your medical information. It’s a confidentiality agreement. Do you sign anything like this when you scan your finger?

Employers are now implementing biometric timecards (finger scans). I know a large national corporation that just started this a few months ago. The employees are given no choice to opt-out and use another form of timecard. No confidentiality agreement is signed by either party. “But it’s your employer, they won’t do anything with the information”, I hear you saying.

Wrong! Just one week after the biometric timecards were installed, 3 employees were fired because their green cards didn’t match up. Now, I’m not in any way, shape, or form, making a statement either way about illegal aliens. Don’t veer off the important point here. The fact is, the employer obviously used the finger scans to run checks on all their employees, without their knowledge or consent. What other information is being traded about the employees without consent?

There are credit cards that use finger scans to prove you are who you are, instead of a signature or photo. There are convenience stores implementing finger scans as a method of payment from your account. Your elementary school children can pay for their lunches using their finger scan.

What I think may scare me the most is how everyone seems to be embracing this as some cool new innovation. And yes, the technology of it is very cool. You can even get an app for your iPhone. But have we as a society been so dumbed down and numbed by the marketing gurus that the corporatocracy hires, that we follow whatever comes along like the obedient little sheep we’ve been trained to be, without THINKING past the next 5 seconds.

No regulations.

None.

Nada.

Zip.

0.