PalmVeinScanner

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  • Scottish school gets biometrified, vein-scanner style

    by 
    Donald Melanson
    Donald Melanson
    10.27.2006

    According to Digital World Tokyo, students at Todholm Primary School, in Paisley, Scotland are now getting a side of biometrics with their order each time they visit the cafeteria, thanks to some new palm vein-scanning payment systems recently installed in the school. This is not the first time we've seen biometrics employed in academia, but while other schools have used fingerprint and iris scanners, this implementation is based on the same Fujitsu palm reading technology currently used in Japanese banks. Because students deduct lunch orders from their accounts with the swipe of a hand, this method has the added advantage of obviating the need for meal tickets. While it's just on cafeteria duty for now, the system's developers foresee the device being used to control room access as well, keeping tabs on which classes students attend -- so while the kids reportedly dig the current scanner because it "makes them feel like James Bond," we suspect they'll be slightly less enthused when being tracked non-stop for eight hours a day.