Walt Disney World to start fingerprinting everyone
By Cyrus Farivar 
posted September 1st 2006 10:41PM
posted September 1st 2006 10:41PM
There aren't that many places (yet) where you have to provide biometric data to gain access. Usually they're limited to high-security areas, you know, places like nuclear research facilities, airports, libraries (!) and by the end of this month, Walt Disney World. Oh yes, the Magic Kingdom will soon be taking fingerprints of its visitors at all four Orlando-area theme parks, and is well on its way becoming a real nation-state, given that it already issues passports and has a standing army of costumed characters (and let's not even speak of their monstrous robot dominion). Disney says that this is to prevent ticket fraud and officials claim that the company is not actually taking "fingerprints," but rather, mathematical representations of fingerprints, as calculated by series of points measured on a fingerprint. A little math never hurt anymore, right? Except when it can be tied to an individual's identity, a record of their whereabouts, and corresponding physical traits. It's a world of hopes and a world of fears, indeed.[Via BoingBoing]
they've been doing this for a while. I went for spring break this past year and had to stick my index finger in that stupid thing. It really slowed things up because it had to be positioned properly or it wouldn't work.
I did work for Disney, onboard the disney wonder, and although its truly a wonder, and disney make it magical, is also true that after 6 months in there, I couldn't stop talking about Disney... I was brainwashed... everywhere you look, anything you hear, anything I touched was on a shape, sound even the food, looked like their cartoons!
They've got big plans :P
people - it may be best if you´d all stop going into this park then...
I went there 5 years ago and had my fingerprint assinged to my ticket.
To all the people who said they went there but didn't have to register any biometric data to use the pass, you're misunderstanding how it works. The *FIRST* time you use it, it is writing to the pass. Then subsequently, it's checking that you're still the same user. That's part of the problem with this - non disclosure of what they're doing and when they're doing it. When you're at the turnstile and it's busy and you just want to get on a ride and not hold up all the people behind you, there is a lot of pressure to just do what they say without thinking about it.
And this is all just to stop resales?? Why is that such a problem anyway? Sure, almost every ticket sold to any event says it's not to be resold, but who but people like Disney really enforces that..? If I buy a pass and decide to give it to my brother one day, where's the crime? Disney still only have one body in the park for one ticket? If their pricing structure is designed to encourage resale of long duration passes, they should change the pricing structure, not use biometric tracking.
And who linked to David Ike..?? That guy is just a joke. You do know he used to be a sports presenter on UK TV, right. It was only after that career collapsed that he when on his new 'enlightened' crusade...
Guess it is a small world afterall.
Get over it! This is old news. They've been doing this since 2003. Deal with it. You wouldn't want just anyone using your $80 to get access to the park right?
James
We even have these at our local clubs. Perth is a VERY small capital city in fact the most isolated in the world (inter-state roadtrips are a nightmare).
For our small population siz it would appear rather pontless altough it does provide several key advantages if your not paranoid about the whole "Big Brother" thing.
1) you dont need to cary ID and therfore no wallet ect (unless drinking) which is a great bonus
2) feels a lot more secure and the paranoids out here are less likely to o something stupid
3) much quicker getting int the club and you can skip past those Bouncers who dont like your shoes
Of course te draw back is that if you drop a glass they may be able to track you!!!!!!
George Foreman has no fingerprints
It sounds like you could paint your fingertips with nail polish or something; since it reads finger shape rather than fingerprints, it'll still work, but you'll be assured that they're not surreptitiously taking your print at the same time.
Oh, and Disney may not be a nation state, but it is a legal enclave of its own, de facto if not de jure. Florida has a law that prevents a lawyer at a firm that has done work for client X from participating in a lawsuit against client X. So Disney farms out its legal work to make sure there are no firms in the state that can sue them. Further, most law firms will let an out-of-state lawyer use their law library (for a fee); but Florida law firms refuse to do so if it's for a suit against Disney, because they're afraid to lose Disney's business. The upshot is that suing Disney is just about impossible. I suppose you could try for a change of venue; I don't know what the rules are there, but I think they're intended to move the case to someplace where you can get a fair trial. An out-of-state court aware of the Florida situation might accept an argument that you can't get a fair trial against Disney in Florida.
As several other readers have already pointed out, Disney has been doing this for years. This isn't anything new.
Have they awakened Walt Disney's head from cryogenic hibernation to ask his thoughts on it yet? Epcot might not have become the "city of the future" Disney once planned, but at least his little nation-state is pioneering capitalism and guest monitoring.
Don't make the mistake of believing that this is in any way for *your* security (reference earlier to tracking down stolen tickets) -- it's intended to guarantee that the original ticket user (fingers scanned at first use) is the *only* user, so you can't sell your passport in Kissimee when you leave. Of course, putting your fingers in wrong just slows down the line, because the operator will, when it's crowded, inevitably merely override the reading.
And, original blogger, don't forget, Disneyland once had one of the largest submarine fleets in the world. (Walt wanted to show it off to Kruschev)
Check out http://www.biometrics.co.uk for more information on this technology!
I read all 65 comments and you most are still missing the KEY point. Indeed, Disney World (Orlando) has used finger length measurements for years to match multiday passes to an individual. The scanners work very poorly. Effecive in September 2006, Disney is changing over all 4 park admissions to a single [index] finger - fingerprint scans. This is the same thing used by FBI, INS, etc. The digitized scans can automatically be converted to AIFIS data and indexed against law enforcement databases. Disney says they are not keeping images (or presumably, jpgs), and will discard the scan data 30 days after last use of the admission pass to which it is tagged.
Personally ... I dont care.
I know that the system in this photo is different than the ones used prior to this change. I'm sure the technology is better, thus the need for this announcement.