Facial recognition shut out of New York State schools

Schools in the U.S. state of New York cannot buy or use facial recognition.

Some schools had deployed cameras and AI algorithms, prompting protests from privacy advocates, facial recognition opponents, some students’ parents and state politicians. This week, the Sate Education Department prohibited the practice under state statute.

However, local schools can use other biometric ID systems so long as officials examine how doing so would affect privacy and civil rights, how effective the systems would be and how parents feel about the move.

The state’s IT services office in August released an equivocating report that influenced the Education Department’s decision. Fingerprint scanning is viewed somewhat favorably.

But the report did not look at the risks of using any other kind of biometric identity scanning.

Article Topics

biometric identifiers  |  biometrics  |  children  |  facial recognition  |  New York  |  schools