UK schools start scanning children's faces to take their lunch money

[Arthur]

Source: The Guardian

 

The Information Commissioner’s Office is to intervene over concerns about the use of facial recognition technology on pupils queueing for lunch in school canteens in the UK.

 

Nine schools in North Ayrshire began taking payments for school lunches this week by scanning the faces of their pupils, according to a report in the Financial Times. More schools are expected to follow.

 

The ICO, an independent body set up to uphold information rights in the UK, said it would be contacting North Ayrshire council about the move and urged a “less intrusive” approach where possible.

 

An ICO spokesperson said organisations using facial recognition technology must comply with data protection law before, during and after its use, adding: “Data protection law provides additional protections for children, and organisations need to carefully consider the necessity and proportionality of collecting biometric data before they do so.

 

“Organisations should consider using a different approach if the same goal can be achieved in a less intrusive manner. We are aware of the introduction, and will be making inquiries with North Ayrshire council.”

 

The company supplying the technology claimed it was more Covid-secure than other systems, as it was cashless and contactless, and sped up the lunch queue, cutting the time spent on each transaction to five seconds.

 

Other types of biometric systems, principally fingerprint scanners, have been used in schools in the UK for years, but campaigners say the use of facial recognition technology is unnecessary.

 

Silkie Carlo, the director of Big Brother Watch, told the Guardian the campaign group had written to schools using facial recognition systems, setting out their concerns and urging them to stop immediately.

 

“No child should have to go through border-style identity checks just to get a school meal,” she said. “We are supposed to live in a democracy, not a security state.

 

“This is highly sensitive, personal data that children should be taught to protect, not to give away on a whim. This biometrics company has refused to disclose who else children’s personal information could be shared with and there are some red flags here for us.”

 

The technology is being installed in schools in the UK by a company called CRB Cunninghams. David Swanston, its managing director, told the FT: “It’s the fastest way of recognising someone at the till. In a secondary school you have around about a 25-minute period to serve potentially 1,000 pupils. So we need fast throughput at the point of sale.”

 

Live facial recognition, technology that scans crowds to identify faces, has been challenged by civil rights campaigners because of concerns about consent. CRB Cunninghams said the system being installed in UK schools was different – parents had to give explicit consent and cameras check against encrypted faceprint templates stored on school servers.

 

A spokesperson for North Ayrshire council said its catering system contracts were coming to a natural end, allowing the introduction of new IT “which makes our service more efficient and enhances the pupil experience using innovative technology”.

 

They added: “Given the ongoing risks associated with Covid-19, the council is keen to have contactless identification as this provides a safer environment for both pupils and staff. Facial recognition has been assessed as the optimal solution that will meet all our requirements.”

 

The council said 97% of children or their parents had given consent for the new system.

 

A Scottish government spokesperson said that local authorities, as data controllers, had a duty to comply with general data protection regulations and that schools must by law adhere to strict guidelines on how they collect, store, record and share personal data.

 

Hayley Dunn, a business leadership specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “There would need to be strict privacy and data protection controls on any companies offering this technology.

 

“Leaders would also have legitimate concerns about the potential for cyber ransomware attacks and the importance of storing information securely, which they would need reassurances around before implementing any new technology.”

[elsiegee40]

There are enough problems with finger print technology in schools. Surely someone could have foreseen that this would be worse?!

[DrCheese]

The council said 97% of children or their parents had given consent for the new system.

 

What's the betting they're abusing the existing "Biometric consent" for that rather than updating it to include this?

[localzuk]

I don't see how facial recognition used in this way is a problem personally. Having seen how this sort of tech works, and having investigated it for my own system (but then decided its time for my system to be retired), I can't see a big issue with it. You train it with a few photos of each person, and it usually requires an active "button push" to enable the camera to take the live photo to compare with - it isn't "always scanning".

 

In a world where everyone posts 10,000 photos to the web with their own face and have no issues with social media using live facial recognition across everything? So long as you have consent, I can't see the issue?

 

To me, it only becomes problematic if the system is extended and used for live scanning - tracking where children are in school etc...

Edited October 19, 2021 by localzuk

[Aprice]

Assuming that the sensors work in the same way as a lot of the biometric readers, the data stored is totally useless for recreating a face only verifying a face matches some attributes.

 

Some of the biometric readers we've worked with don't let the print template leave the reader and associate each print with an ID and then only share the ID with the PC or Access Control unit.

 

Having said all this your average parent won't understand any of that, and it's not surprising it's headline raising. With schools and biometrics I do question if it is really worth the eyebrow raises that inevitably come with it and just go with RFID cards.

[localzuk]

Having said all this your average parent won't understand any of that, and it's not surprising it's headline raising. With schools and biometrics I do question if it is really worth the eyebrow raises that inevitably come with it and just go with RFID cards.

The big problem with RFID cards is the faffing. Costs us hundreds of pounds a year to issue them and maintain them (lost cards, etc...). Without having to print student ID cards, I'd not have to spend on a higher price card printer, for example.

 

Add in the volume of "forgotten cards" slowing down the dinner queue and it can be a huge pain.

[FN-GM]

Do kids wear masks in UK schools? If so it seems the wrong time to be looking at this technology…

[localzuk]

Do kids wear masks in UK schools? If so it seems the wrong time to be looking at this technology…

In general, no, they don't now. Only if the school is in amber or higher measures, and only in corridors/common areas if they are.

[paulkerton]

it usually requires an active "button push" to enable the camera to take the live photo to compare with - it isn't "always scanning".

I'm not sure that would be the case with this one, otherwise how is it any better in the age of covid than fingerprint scanners, as being claimed by Cunninghams and the Council?

 

Given the ongoing risks associated with Covid-19, the council is keen to have contactless identification as this provides a safer environment for both pupils and staff.

Edited October 19, 2021 by paulkerton

[localzuk]

I'm not sure that would be the case with this one, otherwise how is it any better in the age of covid than fingerprint scanners, as being claimed by Cunninghams and the Council?

 

Because it literally takes the person operating the till a few milliseconds to press the button to take the photo which is sent to the server to do the comparison with templates? Without a button push, the system would risk picking up the wrong person in the queue etc... The person running it needs to be able to tap to say "now, that's the person in shot".

[jthompson]

Given that children will need to be uniquely identified in order to pay from a pre-paid balance, I don't see too much problem with it being face recognition compared to any other means of uniquely identifying a child.

 

I know some children can be distressed about having their picture taken, so there might be some consideration needed for that kind of thing. It would also need to actually, you know, work well for all.

 

It's when face recognition [of the identifying type] augments general CCTV coverage to layer on AI-powered child tracking/supervision that things will get more ethically dubious. You can't say that that's not going to come along.

[paulkerton]

Because it literally takes the person operating the till a few milliseconds to press the button to take the photo which is sent to the server to do the comparison with templates? Without a button push, the system would risk picking up the wrong person in the queue etc... The person running it needs to be able to tap to say "now, that's the person in shot".

 

Seems like a lot of complication considering the issues with biometrics and data protection, personally.

[localzuk]

Seems like a lot of complication considering the issues with biometrics and data protection, personally.

Its simpler than RFID cards, that's for sure.

[paulkerton]

Its simpler than RFID cards, that's for sure.

Simpler in regards to kids aren't able to lose their face (Well certainly, not as easily as an RFID card).

But not from a legislative point of view. Though no different legally from a fingerprint.

[mavhc]

Costs a lot of money not to provide free school meals to everyone.

 

Given the quality of catering software, would anyone trust them to do it properly?

[localzuk]

Simpler in regards to kids aren't able to lose their face (Well certainly, not as easily as an RFID card).

But not from a legislative point of view. Though no different legally from a fingerprint.

That's the thing though - building a facial recognition template can be done by anyone so long as you have some photos. So, the idea of abusing the templates in this sort of system is kinda odd, as it would be more effort to do so than just take some photos of the person you want to recognise.

 

Whereas a fingerprint? That requires direct access to the person to work with. So ultimately, fingerprint recognition is more intrusive.

[localzuk]

Costs a lot of money not to provide free school meals to everyone.

 

Not really? It would cost in the region of £1500 a day to provide FSM to all children here. Vs a few grand a year on cashless catering...

[DrCheese]

I don't like normalising organisations having access to facial data. It's very "Minority report" when you have your every move tracked via your face biometric print & this helps normalise that. It wouldn't be too difficult to use this data in a school CCTV system....

 

Fingerprints are fine, as you can't really pull those at a distance - You have to willifully put your finger on a reader for it to work.

[Chris_Cook]

I'm not a fan of Biometrics for school canteens as its much slower. Plus we were also spending a fortune replacing all our fingerprint readers every year due to damage.

 

Re-issuing tags is a pain though - I'll give you that. One other option is to use rfid fobs that can go on your keys (or labels to go in a diary). But lets face it - some students would lose the tag even if we injected it into them like you do with pets.

 

We've also registered Oyster cards in the past. There's some more incentive there to not lose it. But that can be difficult to explain to some parents/students that its the same card, but a different account you have to pay into.

[jthompson]

Given how much students' faces can change during their time at a school, I wonder how reliable this would actually be. Many's the time I've struggled to recognise much similarity at all between a pupil and their official MIS photo.

[enjay]

Given how much students' faces can change during their time at a school, I wonder how reliable this would actually be. Many's the time I've struggled to recognise much similarity at all between a pupil and their official MIS photo.

 

That was my thinking too.

 

I remember seeing something like this at BETT a few years ago for lesson registration via facial recognition. I've not seen the product since though, so don't know if they launched successfully or not.

[Michael]

Different context, but UK Passport control is facial recognition is it not?

 

So if it's OK for an Airport, why not a School?

[localzuk]

So if it's OK for an Airport, why not a School?

Airports aren't the ones running it, the border force are. And they do it for national security reasons, which is a big exemption for such things.

[Michael]

Airports aren't the ones running it, the border force are. And they do it for national security reasons, which is a big exemption for such things.

 

Quite, but then GDPR would also apply to the border force too. It's still personal information contained about you and me.

[paulkerton]

So if it's OK for an Airport, why not a School?

For the same reason a billionaire owns a megayacht and if I'm lucky I might be able to stretch to a blow up dinghy. They have the resources to secure that data, and protect that data - far more so than a school and a caterer.

Plus national security is not the same as pizza and chips.