More than a dirty finger

LSAT, GMAT, MCAT thumbprint requirement sparks privacy concerns

LYNDSIE BOURGON THE WATCH (UNIVERSITY OF KING’S COLLEGE)/ ILLUSTRATION ELYSSA STELMAN

HALIFAX (CUP) — Recently some students have been questioning the requirement of a thumbprint that is needed in order for them to write the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT).

Each year, roughly 100,000 people from across Canada and the United States take the LSAT in hopes of gaining admission into law school.

Clair O’Sullivan is a fourth-year Spanish and contemporary studies student at the University of King’s College in Halifax. She took the LSAT this past fall and is upset that she had to hand over her thumbprint before writing the exam. She says she was never told what the print would be used for.

“None of the privacy issues even occurred to me until late,” said O’Sullivan. “I didn’t think of it. I thought they were really strict on security.”

The Law School Admissions Committee (LSAC) administers the LSAT, and takes the applicants’ fingerprints as a security measure. The fingerprints ensure test-takers are who they saw they are, and that people don’t take the LSAT for someone else.

What happens to the fingerprint afterward is the cause of the controversy that has spread across Canadian law school campuses.

After thumbprints are taken at the LSAT exam, they are sent to the United States to be processed. There, American authorities, including the FBI, have access to the prints. Many Canadian schools say this is unfair for Canadian citizens who wish to attend law school in Canada.

“Every year, law school deans from across Canada get together. A few years ago, the dean from the University of Victoria objected to the fact that applicants had to provide their thumbprint,” said Michael Deturbide, a professor at Dalhousie’s law school, and chair of its admissions council.

“Their objection related to the fact that this information would be possibly available to U.S. authorities if they choose to access it.”

The LSAC has assured concerned applicants that “it has never disclosed the thumbprint information in response to a subpoena.”

Law school applicants have been giving up their thumbprints for more than 20 years. Deturbide gave his thumbprint before he took the LSAT in 1986, and says the practice is not a direct response to the American Patriot Act or 9-11.

The Patriot Act provides more power and information to American authorities investigating alleged terrorist activities, and has been criticized for the methods it allows authorities to use when locating and detaining terrorists in the United States.

The GMAT and MCAT, which are admissions tests for business and medical schools respectively, also require applicants to provide their thumbprint before they write the exam. The Graduate School Requirement Exam (GRE) requires applicants to be photographed.

For O’Sullivan, this doesn’t assuage her concern that the American government has access to her thumbprint.

“I think it’s too bad that we have our fingerprint taken by an American company that is subject to the law and other legislation like the Patriot Act that we’re not subject to here.”

David Loukidelis, British Columbia Information and Privacy commissioner, has agreed to investigate complaints lodged by the University of Victoria’s law school. The Council of Canadian Law Deans has raised questions about whether the practice violates federal and provincial privacy statues, but no concise answer has yet been made.

Deturbide acknowledges that some Canadian students are concerned that their privacy could be undermined when they hand over their thumbprint.

“I think one of the issues relating to what the LSAC does with thumbprints is how long they store the information. It’s not like they surreptitiously obtain the thumbprint; you volunteer it and give consent to do that,” said Deturbide.

“The question is then, how long do they need to keep it? If they need to make sure you are the person you say you are, then they should be routinely cleaning out their database and getting rid of this information when they don’t need it.”

O’Sullivan says she wishes more people were protesting the requirement for students to hand over their thumbprints before writing tests like the LSAT.

“I wish it never happened,” she said.