Fingerprint Book

"Every human being carries with him from his cradle to his grave
certain physical marks which do not change their character,
and by which he can always be identified -
and that without shade of doubt or question."

FINGERPRINTING FUTURE FIRST

"This autograph consists of the delicate lines or corrugations
with which Nature marks
the insides of the hands and
the soles of the feet."
~ Mark Twain

To Orwell Today,

Hi Jackie,

Quite a debate here on national BBC TV about the fingerprinting of kids in schools. Seems that thousands of these systems have been sold and are being used in schools throughout the UK. Many people in favour of the systems say it's because there's no data bank involved and it helps the school to function well and encourages children to eat well or to keep records on books etc. These are a good idea and there's nothing sinister about it.

But my view is that once kids and parents ACCEPT THE CONCEPT it's going to be easier at a later date for society to accept a universal system where fingerprints are used for storage of data on all matters of personal info - on diet, reading material etc etc, so BIG BROTHER has access to everything about each individual from the cradle to the grave. It comes back to the things that Orwell warned us about when we accept everything BIG BROTHER says is good and for our benefit.

Take care,
Ray Wills

Greetings Ray,

Yes, we've come a long way down the slippery fingerprint slope since the "scientific breakthrough" of distinquishing individual fingerprints, as chronicled in the book pictured above, FINGERPRINTS by Colin Beaven.

You may be interested in reading my article PINKERTON'S ALL-SEEING EYE which describes the first use of fingerprinting in North America (based on the advances made in England in the 1800s).

Here in Canada the police have been going into schools for years - under the pretense of "Child Find" groups - and taking children's fingerprints. The parents are all for it (those who even know about it), having swallowed the "it keeps children safe" bait - hook, line and sinker.

As Orwell said, "the weaker the opposition, the tighter the despotism".

2.Big Brother and 3.Surveillance and 20.Thought Police and 21.Crimestop and 27.Goodthink and 18.Newspeak

Orwell also said that there will come a time when even "the concept of freedom will be abolished".

All the best,
Jackie Jura

UK peers slam school fingerprinting. BBC, Mar 19, 2007
Peers have criticised the "intrusive" and increasingly common practice of taking schoolchildren's fingerprints as alarming and "completely astonishing". For the Lib Dems, Baroness Walmsley said: "The practice of fingerprinting in schools has been banned in China as being too intrusive and an infringement of children's rights. Yet here it is widespread." She said one head teacher had "tricked" three-year-olds into giving their prints "by playing a spy game". Crossbencher Baroness Howe said: "Most people would be somewhat alarmed by the idea of having fingerprints taken and would have connected it with criminal offences." A Tory peer, Baroness Carnegy, asked Lord Adonis: "Are you not concerned that the impression children are going to get of what it is to live in a free country and what it is to be British if, in order to get the right school meals, they can have fingerprints taken? It seems to me completely astonishing."...A web poll by lobby group Leave Them Kids Alone estimated that 3,500 schools had bought equipment from two DfES-approved suppliers. Some primary schools have stored children's thumb prints for computerised class registers and libraries without parental consent....Lady Walmsley accused him of "complacency" and said children were being fingerprinted without permission, and were being victimised if they did not comply and threatened with exclusion...

Jackie Jura
~ an independent researcher monitoring local, national and international events ~

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