FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, February 8, 2005
PRESS CONTACT:
Cédric Laurant
EPIC Policy Counsel - 202-483-1140 ext. 114
Privacy Rights Are At Risk
Parents and Civil Liberties Groups Urge School District to Terminate Use of Tracking Devices
Mandatory
Student ID Cards Contain RFIDs
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Parents in a northern California public school district
and civil liberties groups are urging a school district to terminate the mandatory
use of Radio Frequency Identification tags (RFIDs) by students. A letter was
sent today expressing alarm at the Brittan School District’s use of
mandatory ID badges that include a RFID device that tracks the students’
movements. The device transmits private information to a computer on campus
whenever a student passes under one of the scanners. The ID badges also include
the student’s name, photo, grade, school name, class year and the four-digit
school ID number. Students are required to prominently display the badges
by wearing them around the neck at all times.
“Forcing my child to be tracked with a RFID device – without our
consent or knowledge – is a complete invasion of our privacy,”
said Michael and Dawn Cantrall. “Our 7th grader came home wearing the
ID badge prominently displayed around her neck– if someone wants to
harm my child, the mandatory school ID card has just made that task easier.”
The Cantralls filed a formal complaint against the Brittan Elementary School
Board in Sutter, California on January 30th after meeting with several school
officials.
Jeffrey and Michele Tatro, parents of a thirteen-year-old student at Brittan
Elementary School, added: “It is our goal that no child in the United
States be tagged or tracked. We want it to be stopped here, in Sutter California,
and we don’t want any child to be tracked anywhere. Our children are
not pieces of inventory.”
In a letter dated February 7, sent to the Brittan Board of Trustees, the civil
liberties group “urge the school board to recognize the serious safety
and civil liberties implications” and call the for the School Board
to “terminate this ill-advised test immediately.” The ACLU of
Northern California (ACLU-NC), the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and
the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) sent the
letter.
“The monitoring of children with RFID tags is comparable to the tracking
of cattle, shipment pallets, or very dangerous criminals in high-security
prisons. Compelling children to be constantly tracked with RFID-trackable
identity badges breaches their right to privacy and dignity as human beings.
Forcing children to wear badges around their necks displaying such sensitive
information as their name, picture, grade and school exposes them to potential
discrimination since the name of their school may disclose their religious
beliefs or social class,” said Cédric Laurant, Policy Counsel
with EPIC.
“We are sending the letter today because a school board meeting is scheduled
for tomorrow night and we want to make sure that the District reconsiders
the issue,” said Nicole Ozer, Technology and Civil Liberties Policy
Director of the ACLU-NC. “RFID technology is inappropriate for use in
schools. The badges jeopardize the safety and security of children by broadcasting
identity and location information to anyone with a chip reader and subjects
students to demeaning tracking of their movements.”
"It is dehumanizing to force these children to wear RFIDs, and their
parents are rightfully outraged," said Electronic Frontier Foundation
senior staff attorney Lee Tien. "We are doing everything we can to support
the parents in this fight to protect student privacy."
Documents
* Click here for a copy of the letter
sent by the ACLU-NC, EFF, and EPIC
* Click here for a copy of the complaint
filed by Michael and Dawn Cantrall, parents of a seventh grader attending
Brittan Elementary School in Sutter, California