A recent article published on the UK’s Daily Mail website reported that schools in several areas of the United Kingdom are beginning to used facial recognition software to scan children’s faces as they enter school.
The technology, called faceREGISTER, is similar to that which is used in airports to catch the usage of fake passports.
Made by Aurora Computer Services, faceREGISTER takes 3D digital images of faces while the pupil faces a box. After their image is captured, the student enters a 4 digit code to confirm their identity. The technology has the capability to send the students messages, check them in for class and can also track who is in the building in the event of an emergency.
Costing just over $14,000 to implement, the facial recognition software has caused some controversy among privacy campaigners who argue that the program is an “encroachment on civil liberties”.
What do you think? Is this a breach on the privacy of young students or a justified expense that is helpful and intriguing?
Potentially both.
A better solution would be to keep the student’s information stored encrypted on a digital key they carry with them, that only the system can decrypt, and keep track of the log data in the form of a hash generated on the decrypted data on the student’s key. This ensures the privacy of the student’s data from nearly all points of attack, and limits what’s available to staff and others to what’s currently available without the technology, while enhancing the accuracy of the information through biometrics (preventing someone posing as a student and falsifying the logged information).