Biometric profiling

[mark]

now here\'s athing. A client of mine, one who I\'ve known for years.

I\'m supposed to go down to their place in a few weeks. Not been for about a year, done it all remotely.

Last week I gets an email:

You will enter the site by a Main Security Gate. A XXXXXXX Security Officer will check your details and allow you access through both the Gate and a barrier.

You will then enter by Main Reception where the Receptionist will call your XXXXX contact. If your stay is for days rather than hoursĀ  they will then take you to the Security Monitor room, in order for you to be enrolled onto the new system. You will be issued with a COTAG Pass, and have a biometric reading taken of your right thumb print. This allows you access through the new Security lanes we have installed.


Whats gannin on???

The company whilst a household name, have no connections with anything that could be remotely sensitive.

This is something I feel very strongly about, to the point where I\'m probably going to resign the account.

It gets better though, because I immediately rang them to say \'wats gannin on like\" or words to that effect and enquire about their compliance with not only the data protection act and the European Human Rights Act (which incedentally make biometric data on National Identity cards Illegal), and to tell em I don\'t want to be \'profiled\' they gets very suspicious.

Mighty strange, bearing in mind I do work for a major pharmaceutical company and a supplier to the armed forces and they have nowt of the sort in place

[alan]

Certainly not the factory I work at,the security guard gets confused trying to open the crash barrier,they make canny locks btw
A couple of years ago my mate phoned in sick,told the security guard blah blah blah he was\'nt coming in (nightshift),the message was passed on to the production manager who was told ###### was\'nt coming because his wife had died,as you could guess we were all shocked,he got his arse kicked for his troubles nearly got his lights punched out as well,he said \"I\'m sure thats what he said\".

Mark sound like something off a James Bond film lol

[DaveMason]

Thats normal Mark , believe me you\'ve been let off lightly !!!!

[mark]

I really do feel strongly about ti though, especially as I\'ve known them for years, and at the end of the day, they make vacuum cleaners!

Felt even more enraged when they couldn\'t answer questions regarding what they will do with the data when I leave the site.

I get less hassle wandering through royal ordnance to see the mad rocket scientists

[gag1]

Get your firm to change its Security company Alan !!!!!!!!!!!!!. The sort of thing you mentioned really makes my p**s boil as I work in Security. A lot of firms take out security contracts with some of the big security firms in the area thinking that they will get good service but this sometimes isnt the case. Although the security firms are making good profits from these contracts, they seem to often pay the lowest rates possible to the guards that they employ. Dont get me wrong as most of the guards employed by these companies do a good job under difficult circumstances but the odd guy that sometimes isnt quite with it will get through their recruitment process. I am employed in security and our company has strict rules for employment such as full British Security Industry training and qualifications before being allowed on any site. The site I am deployed to at present insists that we are are fully first aid trained and also fully trained in fire fighting. We have a works ambulance and fire tender based on site and therefore must be fully trained in using them. We also enjoy what is probably the best rate of pay for security in the area and we are all on a salary basis. The guard that you referred to should have ensured that he got the message right before passing it on to the relevant person. He should also have written the message down as he was taking it and then repeated the message to the caller to ensure that no mistakes were made. He obviously didnt carry this out and the result was as you stated. It takes a great deal of time to build up a good security team and this can be wrecked in seconds by a mis-quoted message. I only hope that the impending licensing system for the Security Industry sorts the wheat from the chaff but somehow I doubt it.

cheers.
george.

[gag1]

Hello Mark. Agree with you 100% mate. Their visitor entry/exit system is way,way, over the top.

cheers.
george.

[Ell]

[Edited on 15/3/2005 by Ell]