FLASHBACK: Poway Skate Park Requires Skateboaders' Digital Fingerprint Scan By Installing $50,000 Automated Access Control System

Poway Skate Park Automated Access Control System Letter

**UPDATE (July 12, 2010) - The fingerprint system is now active. Watch the news video by clicking here.

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More big brother stuff - this time on the skate tip. As a skateboarder, this is ridiculous that someone has to be tracked, traced and databased to use the Poway City Skate Park. Basically, skateboarders have to get fingerprinted if they want to use the city skatepark. What type of security protocols does Poway take to ensure that the fingerprints stored in the city's database do not fall into the wrong hands and/or are used for illicit purposes?

The below article is dated from about a year ago. Ultimately, the fingerprinting scanning concept was unanimously approved by the City Council. In case, you don't know, Poway is a suburb north of San Diego, California.

The City Council is considering upgrading security cameras and putting a gate on the unsupervised park to help protect it from vandalism and graffiti...[U]sers would have to register with the city and be fingerprinted, and a electronic gate on the park would open after their thumbprint is scanned and recognized.

The project would cost $50,000 and $1,500 annually to maintain...

City staff members had considered identification cards to open the gates, but decided on thumbprint scanners because they are more secure and more convenient for the skateboarders, Dudas said. This may be the first time such scanners have been used to control access to a skate park...

Source: North County Times ; Poway City Council