Nine schools in North Ayrshire, UK will use facial recognition technology as a payment method in school canteens, they will take fees by scanning student’s faces, according to the Financial Times.
Although the process is mainly intended to enhance transaction speeds, the technology can also help minimizing touch throughout the pandemic. It may be crucial when you have little more than 25 minutes to feed a large group of children in school.
Students will be able to pay for lunch in school canteen using facial recognition technology
But there are some critics regarding privacy and security concers. The schools and system installer CRB Cunningham both claimed there will be no issues. CBR Cunningham explained that its hardware wasn’t utilizing live facial recognition, which actively scans crowds but it makes use of encrypted faceprint templates instead.
Schools are already employing fingerprint readers, so this was more of a shift in biometric technology than a complete new layer. North Ayrshire’s council also told that 97% of parents and children gave permission for the use of this technology.
Face recognition has been criticized by Big Brother Watch and the Biometrics Commissioner for being arbitrary. There are concerns regarding face recognition technology to be a standard for other places too. This might lead students to have privacy concerns.
Many will be keeping an eye on the UK school adoption to see whether it’s a good idea and if there are any potential problems.
