3C Article Analysis Exercise n°2

Face up to it – this surveillance of kids in school is creepy

Stephanie Hare

The Guardian, 8 May 2022 (slightly adapted)

Facial recognition technology doesn’t just allow children to make cashless payments – it can
measure their mood and behaviour in class.

A few days ago, a friend sent me a screenshot of an online survey sent by his children’s
school and a company called ParentPay, which provides technology for cashless payments
5 in schools. “To help speed up school meal service, some areas of the UK are trialling (=
tester) using biometric technology such as facial identity scanners to process payments. Is
this something you’d be happy to see used in your child’s school?” One of three responses
was allowed: yes, no and “I would like more information before agreeing”.

My friend selected “no”, but I wondered what would have happened if he had asked for
10 more information before agreeing. Who would provide it? The company that stands to
profit from his children’s faces? Fortunately, Defend Digital Me’s report, The State of
Biometrics 2022: A Review of Policy and Practice in UK Education, was published last week,
introduced by Fraser Sampson, the UK’s biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner
(= membre d’une commission). It is essential reading for anyone who cares about children.

15 First, it reminds us that the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, which protects children’s
biometrics (such as face and fingerprints), applies only in England and Wales. Second, it
reveals that the information commissioner’s office has still not ruled on the use of facial
recognition technology in nine schools in Ayrshire, which was reported in the media in
October 2021, much less the legality of the other 70 schools known to be using the
20 technology across the country. Third, it notes that the suppliers of the technology are private
companies based in the UK, the US, Canada and Israel.

The report also highlights some gaping holes (= trous béants) in our knowledge about the
use of facial recognition technology in British schools. For instance, who in government
approved these contracts? How much has this cost the taxpayer? Why is the government
25 using a technology that is banned in several US states and which regulators in France,
Sweden, Poland and Bulgaria have ruled unlawful (= illégal) on the grounds that it is neither
necessary nor proportionate and does not respect children’s privacy? Why are British
children’s rights not held to the same standard as their continental counterparts?

The report also warns that this technology does not just identify children or allow them to
30 transact with their bodies. It can be used to assess (= évaluer) their classroom engagement,
mood, attentiveness and behaviour. One of the suppliers, CRB Cunninghams, advertises
 3C Article Analysis Exercise n°2

that it scans children’s faces every three months and that its algorithm “constantly evolves
to match the child’s growth and change of appearance”.

So far, MPs have been strikingly silent on the use of such technology in schools. Instead, two
35 members of the House of Lords have sounded the alarm. In 2019, Lord Clement-Jones put
forward a private member’s bill for an official suspension and review of all uses of facial
recognition technology in the UK. The government has yet to give this any serious
consideration. Undaunted (= courageux, téméraire), his colleague Lord Scriven said last
week that he would put forward a private member’s bill (= projet de loi) to ban its use in
40 British schools.

It’s difficult not to wish the two lords well when you return to CRB Cunninghams’ boasts
about its technology. “The algorithm grows with the child,” it proclaims. That’s great, then:
what could go wrong?