14) Opinion on Installation of Fingerprint Recognition System for Smart Schools
The Commission expressed its opinion to the Director of Construction of
Multifunctional Administrative City that installing the fingerprint recognition system for
Smart Schools should be discouraged on a number of reasons including: i) scope of
application that expands from kindergartens to high schools is too vast; ii) benefits
including higher efficiency of school administration supported by rapid attendance
monitoring do not outweigh the potential risk of infringing basic rights; iii) there are
alternative methods such as use of electronic student ID or manual attendance monitoring;
and iv) recognizing the possibility of loss and misuse/abuse of private information, benefits
of collecting fingerprint information to facilitate attendance monitoring do not outweigh
restriction on the rights to privacy and self-determination, not to mention the possibility of
violating the principle that prohibits excessive supervision. While the best interests of
children should take the priority, the proposed system could result in invasion of privacy.
(October 27, 2011)
15) Opinion on the Framework against Discrimination Act
The Commission expressed its opinion to the Chairman of the Legislation and Judiciary
Committee of the National Assembly on the Framework Act against Discrimination
(hereafter, ‘the Anti-Discrimination Act’) as follows.
While it was commendable to formulate the general and comprehensive
Anti-Discrimination Act such as the proposed one aimed at raising living standards of
socially vulnerable groups, achieving the principle of equality stipulated by the
Constitution through concerted efforts to remedy discriminatory conventions, regulations,
and policies, and promoting compliance with international human rights treaties, the
proposal required further improvement as follows.
i) Grounds for discrimination simply labeled as ‘physical conditions’, ‘place of birth’
and ‘social status’ to represent types of discrimination are insufficient to represent detailed
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Part II. Major Activities of the Commission