Ann-Elise Henzl reports:
In an effort to prevent fraud at day care centers, the state will install fingerprint scanners to track the children who are attending.
The state says the system will allow it to monitor attendance, and make sure the state is only reimbursing day care facilities for services actually provided.
[…]
Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel reports:
Children or their guardians would need to scan their fingers when they arrive at and leave child care facilities, a move that is meant to give the state assurance that it is paying only for children who actually attend day care.
So let’s be clear: CHILDREN will be tracked to prevent ADULTS committing financial fraud. It would seem that there would need to be some kind of new database of fingerprints and records of time arrived/time left to support this. Who will have access to the database containing children’s information? How long will it be retained for? Do the children being third-party beneficiaries of the state’s subsidy program permit the state to impose surveillance requirements on them?
Does no one in Wisconsin see a problem with creating a database of children this way?