by Biometrics, the science of using machines to identify people by the features of their own bodies, is intruding further into families’ lives.
Some parents in Lake Charles, Louisiana, have been upset by a letter sent home with Moss Bluff Elementary School children about plans for a new school lunch program that will require children to have their hands scanned in the lunch line.
The scanners would identify the child and the lunch payment plan. School officials say it would speed up the lunch line and increase efficiency.
“With an elementary school, they all come through line, and most of them eat here. It would make us more efficient and more accurate,” Principal Charles Caldarera told KPLC TV. “We’ve had parents complain in the past, because they felt like their children weren’t eating, that we assigned them a charge for the day, and they might have been right.”
But some parents are angry about the new program.
Parent Mamie Sonnier told the TV station: “As a Christian, I’ve read the Bible, you know go to church and stuff. I know where it’s going to end up coming to, the mark of the beast. I’m not going to let my kids have that.”
Caldarera said a number of parents have expressed similar complaints to him, but he says the scanners are just everyday technology.
The principal has a point that this sort of technology has become commonplace, but does that mean people should put up with it?
Other schools across the nation are considering similar scanners. Some already use thumb print identification.
Nowadays, law enforcement will also take DNA samples if you enter the system. The military branches keep similar records.
Facial recognition software is gaining in use. Not only can it be used to identify criminals, but there are companies that sell it as a security device to protect access to computers and other systems.
Retinal scanning systems are being developed to help deliver advertising via audio, video and shopping center signage, a la the Tom Cruise movie “Minority Report.”
As part of Obamacare, the federal government is expected to create a database containing the medical records of every American. At the very least, this will likely result in some sort of national ID card, but there are persistent rumors that the preferred method will be to implant a chip in patients.
Some of the rumors of a 2013 deadline for “chipping” America are based on a strained reading of parts of the Obamacare law. However, considering the current Administration, it’s not hard to foresee our government doing exactly that for “convenience” and “security.”
There are people who say that the Mark of the Beast will be given in a very public fashion, with people lining up willingly to receive it. Others have suggested that it’s being implemented bit by bit through use of biometric systems.
I don’t really consider myself qualified to interpret Revelation, but I notice most of the people pushing for these biometric systems seem to be ardent secularists, with all that implies. They certainly don’t care about my or your privacy or dignity.
Our current government makes me want to quote Charlton Heston: “Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty apes!”
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