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UK School Introduces Facial Recognition

Posted by timothy on from the excuse-me-while-I-register-my-delight dept.

Penguin_me writes "A UK school has quietly introduced new facial recognition systems for registering students in and out of school: 'HIGH-TECH facial recognition technology has swept aside the old-fashioned signing of the register at a school. Sixth-formers will now have their faces scanned as they arrive in the morning at the City of Ely Community College. It is one of the first schools in the UK to trial the new technology with its students. Face Register uses the latest high-tech gadgets to register students in and out of school in just 1.5 seconds.'"

3 of 214 comments (clear)

  1. Why do this? by __aashqr1992 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Why do this? What possible advantage is there? It seems like a completely gratuitous database. Besides which, when I was at college (in the UK age 16-18 normally) they didn't take register - If you didn't turn up, that was your own problem; the lecturers took it up with you when you finally did turn up for class.

  2. Misleading summary (shock!) by NoNeeeed · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "A UK school has quietly introduced..."

    If by "quietly" you mean, "telling everyone about how good it is and getting it in the press" then yes I guess so. Ahem. Did the submitter actually read the article they submitted?

    It's worth RTFA and watching the short little video to see what the system does (I know, this is /. etc).

    This is not some Big Brother style camera system covertly watching the students. This is a box on the wall which the students have to actively use to sign themselves in and out. They have to actively press buttons (well a touch screen) to use it.

    While I am nervous about using biometrics for this sort of thing, the data being collected is exactly the same as would be recorded by the class register, the only difference is that it uses a computer rather than a teacher. Some schools have been using swipe-card systems for a few years, this is just a step up technologically.

    There is a wider argument about the way schools are run, and the creeping use of biometrics, but this is primarily used to see who is in the building if there is a fire, so I'm not really sure that the "OMG, BIG BROTHER!1!!!!1!!" spin is warranted.

    Especially since they have not exactly kept it quiet.

    --
    Paul Leader
  3. You guys are missing the point... by denzacar · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It is ONE school. How useful could data from only one school in the entire UK be for a forming of some BigBrotherTM database?

    Nah... It's something much simpler.
    Same reason the face-recognition companies practically gave away their hardware to selected locations in India so they could get better at recognizing the "darker" faces.

    Fine tuning.

    Teenagers have a tendency for two things more than any other age group.
    Growing up and changing their facial structure very quickly in a matter of months AND they "play" with their faces more than anyone else.
    Makeup and cosmetics for girls, facial hair for boys, piercings etc. for both.

    The point of this "experiment" is to teach the machines how to successfully identify people even if they change their hairstyle, hair color, eye color, grow a beard or a mustache, do some light plastic surgery or heavy makeup to alter their faces, etc.

    Now, when they put this in every school - THAT is for making the Great Britain's Good Citizens Glorious Database or GBGCGD.

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens