New Scanners for Tracking City Workers

[Marksix]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/23/nyregion/23scanning.html?ex=1327208400&en=7312efab98bd4f81&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

The Bloomberg administration is devoting more than $180 million toward state-of-the-art technology to keep track of when city employees come and go, with one agency requiring its workers to scan their hands each time they enter and leave the workplace.


...employees have called the scanners Orwellian. “The body of my person, which includes my palm, belongs to me, and me alone,” one employee, Kerry E. Carnahan, wrote on an internal department Web site last June.



"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi

[nick-taylor]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/23/nyregion/23scanning.html?ex=1327208400&en=7312efab98bd4f81&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

The Bloomberg administration is devoting more than $180 million toward state-of-the-art technology to keep track of when city employees come and go, with one agency requiring its workers to scan their hands each time they enter and leave the workplace.


...employees have called the scanners Orwellian. “The body of my person, which includes my palm, belongs to me, and me alone,” one employee, Kerry E. Carnahan, wrote on an internal department Web site last June.

"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma GandhiI don't quite see the problem here, its just the modern day equivalent of clocking in/out. Except instead of having a card that could be used by anyone, you use your hand...

[lofter1]

But with this plan you'd have to give a hand scan / fingerprints that would then be in the government data base ...

[NYatKNIGHT]

^Potentially, anyway. They could keep the employee list on site in the local network database. I've heard there are problems where employees work outdoors and come back with dirty or swollen or scabbed hands, and in turn the retinal scan has been installed for its reliability, though costlier. That technology is promoted for its security benefits more than being a glorified punch clock - we'll start seeing it more where security is a high concern.

[TonyO]

I've heard there are problems where employees work outdoors and come back with dirty or swollen or scabbed hands, and in turn the retinal scan has been installed for its reliability, though costlier.

The door handles on bathrooms are likely much worse than any scanner would be. I think people will bitch and moan about any change, no matter what the benefits are.

[MikeW]

So?

I think for gov't workers, accountability is a good thing.

But with this plan you'd have to give a hand scan / fingerprints that would then be in the government data base ...

[NYatKNIGHT]

The door handles on bathrooms are likely much worse than any scanner would be.I meant the scanner doesn't always get an accurate reading with smudges on the hands.

[TonyO]

I meant the scanner doesn't always get an accurate reading with smudges on the hands.

I see. I read in AMNY or Metro that people were unhappy because an employee who's hand had a band-aid on it had to be removed to scan properly.