Facial recognition is on the menu in UK schools


Scottish schoolchildren can now confirm their presence in the canteen by means of facial recognition. — Relaxnews

Some British schools are announcing that they will, for the very first time, use facial recognition technology for the payment of pupils' canteen meals. Although this only concerns a few schools, it presages new uses for a technology that's already well established in some countries, starting with China.

So far, just a handful of schools in North Ayrshire, Scotland, are testing this technology. They believe that it makes transactions both faster (less than five seconds per student) and more hygienic than using a card or a hand scan. In any case, this method avoids pupils' having to carry cash or a card that can be lost or stolen. Moreover, it doesn't require touching any equipment, which is especially important in the age of Covid-19.

In practice, children select their meal, look at the camera to be identified, and then leave to go eat. While this solution is undeniably practical, it nevertheless raises many questions about the protection of personal data. Any such biometric data is intended to be encrypted and stored until the child leaves the school, when it is permanently deleted. Of course, willing parents must give prior consent for their children to participate in this trial. Many other British schools have already expressed interest in this technology.

Subscribe now and receive FREE sooka plan for 1 month.
T&C applies.

Monthly Plan

RM13.90/month

Annual Plan

RM12.33/month

Billed as RM148.00/year

1 month

Free Trial

For new subscribers only


Cancel anytime. No ads. Auto-renewal. Unlimited access to the web and app. Personalised features. Members rewards.
Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!
   

Next In Tech News

World's first wooden satellite, developed in Japan, heads to space
This humanoid robot can now operate with full autonomy
Scientists use AI to help track penguins in Antarctica
Windows 10 users will soon have to pay to keep getting security updates
Musk and X are epicenter of US election misinformation, experts say
OpenAI in talks with California to become for-profit company, Bloomberg News reports
Meta to extend ban on new political ads after U.S. election
Crypto firms including Robinhood, Kraken launch global stablecoin network
Chipmaker NXP forecasts quarterly revenue below estimates on macroeconomic concerns
Exclusive-Silver Lake, Bain prepare to bid for multi-billion stake in Intel's Altera unit, sources say

Others Also Read