UK Schools Adopt Face Scanners in Latest Security Ploy

We all know that technology is becoming more innovative and advanced by the day, but what about face scanners to increase school security? Sounds like something straight out of a James Bond movie.

 

However, there is nothing Hollywood about this high-tech security ploy. The Telegraph.co.uk reported on Friday that in the near future, face scanners could become a reality for many schools in the UK. In an effort to keep strangers from entering, schools across the country could be adopting the technology, which uses an invisible infra-red light to screen student faces as they come in the building.

 

The face scanners, which will be tested this week in a UK school, can also be used to allow children to take out library books and purchase their lunch. The system is among a host of high-tech security measures introduced in schools to enhance security.

 

Some schools have even brought in fingerprint and eye scanners, while others plan to put radio transponder chips in students’ uniforms to keep tabs on them.

 

However, usually when new things are introduced, there are always doubts and fears about them. In this case, people are worried that the technology breaks children's civil rights.

 

In 2003, one school installed an iris scanner but removed it a year later after it failed to recognize some students and led to long lines.

 

To teach people more about the technology, Northampton-based biometric firm, Aurora will be showcasing its new "face recognition software" at an education technology conference in London this week.

 

Aurora has created a prototype aimed at schools for “ultra fast student registration, easy cashless catering and secure access control.”

 

Each system comes with a price tag (News - Alert) of close to £1,000, or $1,484.28, and can verify a face in 1.5 seconds. The face scanners are said to be more accurate at identifying people than a human.

 

Patrick Usher, Aurora’s technical director, told the Times Educational Supplement that because children faces change as they grow, adapting the technology in schools systems is a challenge.

 

General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, John Dunford, explained that the system would be welcomed if it cut bureaucracy - but he added, "You always seem to get queues behind security devices.”

 

Guidance issued in 2007 allows head teachers to collect students' biometric data to use when taking the register, paying for lunch or taking books out of the library.

 

But civil liberties campaigners worry that the data could be given to police or the Government without parents' knowing - or stolen by identity thieves.

 

"These systems store fingerprint templates, which are used by the police. It leaves children open to identity fraud later on," stated the pressure group Leave Them Kids Alone.

 

Introduced this summer, several UK airports are already using face scanners to verify passengers before boarding planes. But some think the technology still has a long way to go before it becomes wide spread.

 

Phil Booth of the No2Id Campaign said: "Someone is extremely optimistic. The technology is just not there. The last time I spoke to anyone in the facial recognition field they said the best systems were only operating at about a 40 percent success rate in a real time situation. I am flabbergasted they consider doing this at a time when there are so many measures making it difficult for passengers."

So, what’s next? Will we one day have bar codes on our arms? Has our world really become so unsafe that we have to depend on technology to weed out the good from the bad?