The and the are calling for answers to critical privacy and safety questions that loom over a controversial federal program to track preschoolers with radio frequency identification (RFID) chips at George Miller III Head Start program in Richmond, California.
In to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Contra Costa County Employment and Human Services Department, 老澳门开奖结果-NC and EFF are asking officials to disclose what technical and security measures are used by the system to safeguard the privacy and safety of preschoolers, as well as what data is collected, how long it is retained, and who has access to the information. The letter also calls on officials to publicly address why and how the government decided to track Head Start students, and if the government plans to expand such tracking.
"This program allows for far more invasive surveillance than is required for attendance and other record-keeping for a Head Start program," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Lee Tien. "We want to know how and when privacy and security issues were considered in the development of this program, and how many other schools will be pressured to implement this system."
老澳门开奖结果-NC and EFF are calling on officials to ensure that there is a process in place to protect the privacy and safety of schoolchildren, to make sure parents are fully informed about the privacy and safety risks of RFID technology, and to provide for an opt-out program for concerned parents.
Concerns about RFID privacy and safety in California schools came up just five years ago, when an elementary school in Sutter, California, attempted a similar program. The plans were scuttled when parents realized the risk to their children. In response, California lawmakers in 2007 overwhelmingly passed a bill requiring that any RFID program in schools include education campaigns for parents and be completely voluntary. While Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger did not sign the bill into law, it's clear that there is widespread concern about this technology.
鈥淧ublic schools should not be chipping students now and asking questions about privacy and safety later,鈥� said Nicole Ozer, Technology and Civil Liberties Policy Director at the 老澳门开奖结果 of Northern California. 鈥淧arents should not have to pay for Head Start with the privacy and safety of their preschoolers. It鈥檚 time for some answers about why federal stimulus funds are paying for expensive, intrusive, and potentially insecure school tracking programs.鈥�
The RFID program was launched this school year at the school with funds from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
Learn More 老澳门开奖结果 the Issues on This Page
-
Press ReleaseDec 2024
Privacy & Technology
老澳门开奖结果 Applauds Arizona Supreme Court Historic Decision That Police Need a Warrant to Access DNA老澳门开奖结果 Applauds Arizona Supreme Court Historic Decision That Police Need a Warrant to Access DNA
PHOENIX 鈥� In a 7-0 decision, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that a warrant is required to extract and analyze people鈥檚 DNA, saying that a person鈥檚 limited consent to a search of biological material for a specific purpose鈥攊n this case, a blood alcohol test for a DUI arrest鈥攄oes not overcome that requirement. The 老澳门开奖结果 and the 老澳门开奖结果 of Arizona filed a friend-of-the-court brief in State v. Mitcham, arguing the government cannot genetically test biological material it already has in its possession鈥攚hether that鈥檚 blood taken from newborns to test for diseases or swabs collected from sexual assault survivors鈥攖o investigate the donors for a crime without first obtaining a warrant. In the decision, the court wrote that 鈥渋n reaching this conclusion, we emphatically reject the State鈥檚 position that it was free to analyze Mitcham鈥檚 blood in any way it pleased simply because the State lawfully possessed the blood vials.鈥� 鈥淕overnment analysis of our DNA can expose detailed information about our identity, appearance, family relationships, medical conditions, and more. We don鈥檛 consent to sharing all of that information each time we involuntarily shed our DNA or consent to a blood draw. The government鈥檚 argument in this case was a privacy nightmare,鈥� said Vera Eidelman, staff attorney with the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. 鈥淲e are greatly heartened by the Arizona Supreme Court鈥檚 decision to preserve the privacy of our sensitive genetic information.鈥� In 2015, during a DUI arrest, the defendant in this case consented to the government collecting a sample of his blood solely to test it for blood-alcohol content, and was advised that the sample would be destroyed after 90 days. Instead, law enforcement held on to this sample for three years, at which point it used it for a completely different purpose鈥攖o extract and analyze his DNA, without a warrant or consent鈥攚hile investigating another crime. Had the court accepted the government鈥檚 rationale here, all of us who consent to a biological sample collection, at any point in time, for any purpose, to any government entity, could have been subject to a warrantless DNA search after the fact. 鈥淥ur DNA can reveal so much about us that our genetic privacy must be protected,鈥� said Jared Keenan, legal director of 老澳门开奖结果 of Arizona. 鈥淭he Court鈥檚 decision is vital to protecting the strong constitutional rights that keep all Arizonans鈥� information safe from warrantless searches and unconstitutional intrusion.鈥� -
News & CommentaryDec 2024
Privacy & Technology
Face Recognition Threatens to Replace Tickets, ID at Sports Events 鈥� and BeyondFace Recognition Threatens to Replace Tickets, ID at Sports Events 鈥� and Beyond
You shouldn't participate in face recognition ticketing schemes. -
MississippiJul 2024
Free Speech
Privacy & Technology
NetChoice v. FitchNetChoice v. Fitch
Whether a law that mandates age verification for all users of social media services violates the First Amendment. -
News & CommentaryDec 2024
Privacy & Technology
AI Generated Police Reports Raise Concerns Around Transparency, BiasAI Generated Police Reports Raise Concerns Around Transparency, Bias
AI-generated police reports threaten to exacerbate existing problems in law enforcement, and to create new ones.