New York state has banned the use of facial recognition in schools last Wednesday, after a report concluded that the risks to students' privacy and civil rights outweigh the potential security benefits.
An analysis of the Office of Information Technology Services (Office of Information Technology Services ) issued last month “recognizes that the risks of its use technology facial recognition in an educational environment may outweigh the benefits.”
Lockport School (Lockport Central School District) activated a monitoring system in January 2020 after meeting conditions set by state education officials at the time, including that no students be entered into the database of potential threats.
The same school stopped using the $1,4 million tracking system later that year.
"Schools should be safe places to learn and grow, not places where they are constantly scanned and monitored, with their most sensitive information at risk," said Stefanie Coyle, deputy director of the NYCLU's Education Policy Center.