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Campaign Against Fingerscanning
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Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 16:21:56 -0400 (EDT)
From: Gidget Digit
[...]
Greetings!
This is part of a message about the launch of a new campaign by the Guelph Coalition Against the Cuts against biometric tracking. The conservative government of Ontario has been scapegoating the poorest people of this province for the past year. If you are interested in getting involved in the resistance, we are creating a working mailing list to address this issue; drop me a note if you want to get on this. Otherwise, I'll be posting major updates on various lists, and we shall add it to our website shortly. [ http://tdg.uoguelph.ca/~lilith/gcac/ ]
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Why Focus on Fingerscanning?
It clarifies issues... the injustice of a multi-billion dollar corporation making money by treating the poor like criminals is something to rally people against.
Our goal is attainable... Attaining this goal will draw more people into the resistance against Harris.
BACKGROUND: On June 19th, Metro Toronto City Council voted to use fingerscanning to identify social assistance recipients. Council has also agreed to ask the federal government to look into using this system nation-wide. For the time-being scanning will not be mandatory, but people who don't get scanned will automatically be subject to added scrutiny and Metro officials have said that people who get scanned will get their cheques faster than people who don't. It will cost between approximately $4 million and $8 million to install the system. Unisys Canada Inc., the Royal Bank, and Great-West Life Assurance Company have won the contract to develop the fingerscanning technology. This will be phased in gradually and public meetings will be held, likely in September.
THE CAMPAIGN: The Guelph Coalition Against the Cuts is in the process of developing a plan of resistance. At the moment we are still gathering information about what exactly is happening with biometric tracking (fingerscanning), how each company is involved in its development etc.. We are also doing outreach in Guelph, trying to get feedback and raise interest in the campaign -- especially from those who will be directly affected by fingerscanning. We have been contacting groups outside of Guelph, too. (the Ontario Coalition for Social Justice, OCAP, the Campaign for a General Strike, TCAR, University of Toronto's Anti-Cuts Committee, Common Frontiers, Action Canada Network and the Embarrass Harris Campaign have all been contacted.)
GOAL: Stop the government from using biometric identification on people who recieve social assistance.
STRATEGIES: We are still discussing, and are interested in getting FEEDBACK about the best strategies to pursue. We want to develop a co-ordinated, province-wide campaign of well-organized and escalating actions. Right now, we are thinking about using a two-fold strategy that hinges on fingerscanning being voluntary (read: coerced).
1) We want to convinced welfare recipients not to get scanned. This could be done through an educational campaign. Some tactics proposed: doing local outreach to community groups that are either largely made up of low income people or else are in close contact with them, leafleting, holding public meetings, making it clear that persons living on social assistance have every right to refuse this kind of treatment.
2) We want to raise the costs of implementing this technology, making it too "expensive" (not only in terms of money, but in terms of reputation as well) for companies to develop it.
In solidarity, Guelph's Coalition Against the Cuts - http://tdg.uoguelph.ca/~lilith/gcac/
contacts:
Sarah Vance or Orenda Davis svance@uoguelph.ca odavis@uoguelph.ca
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It's also interesting to note the connection of the Royal Bank to the north american launch of the Mondex Digital Cash "Smart Card". With Guelph as the target launch city, you can expect to be hearing more from us about the banks, corporate info-tech, and human rights to privacy and dignity!
e-mail me 4 more digi-cash info & biometric tracking website development ideas? send me your URLs/info.
thanks much, -=pj=-
=pj========= pj@freespace.net ========= lilith@tdg.uoguelph.ca =========== my lilley pad..... http://tdg.uoguelph.ca/~lilith Guelph's Coalition Against the Cuts " /~lilith/gcac -- Make the Links!- pj@channel-zero.com + Channel Zero on the Web: www.channel-zero.com + ```
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