Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Thursday October 21 2021, @06:06AM   Printer-friendly
from the 1984-was-not-supposed-to-be-a-blueprint dept.

Nine UK schools start scanning children’s faces to take their lunch money:

Several schools in Scotland are set to start using facial recognition software to allow pupils to pay for their lunches.

The system, installed in nine sites in North Ayrshire, scans the faces of pupils at the tills in order to save time during the busy lunch hour.

It checks them off against a register of faces stored on the school’s servers and replaces software that used fingerprint scanners.

The company that installed the systems claim they are more Covid-secure and help speed up the queue, with each transaction now taking just five seconds, The Financial Times reported.

David Swanston, the managing director of CRB Cunninghams, the company that installed the systems, told the FT: ‘In a secondary school you have around about a 25 minute period to serve potentially 1,000 pupils. So we need fast throughput at the point of sale.’

But privacy campaigners claim it further normalises the technology which is often used without the consent of those being tracked.

[...] North Ayreshire council claims the majority of parents have given consent for the system because they recognise that it makes the process easier.


Original Submission

Related Stories

Don't Feed Big Brother 18 comments

Followup for the previous story about facial recognition for pupils in school to get their food.

Nine schools in North Ayrshire have paused use of facial recognition technology days after introducing it, following UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) inquiries.

[...] Separately, Prof Fraser Sampson, biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner for England and Wales, told the BBC that he expected public services contemplating the use of facial recognition to think carefully before "deciding to use a measure as obviously intrusive as facial recognition".

[...] On Friday, North Ayrshire Council tweeted that it had decided to temporarily pause the facial recognition system in secondary schools, having received a number of inquiries about the technology.

I guess there was a bit of a big brother backlash after it became known and the project is now on pause. Or they won't use the entire system but just the fingerprint part, not fingerprint and face scan.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-59037346


Original Submission

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1)
  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Opportunist on Thursday October 21 2021, @06:18AM (2 children)

    by Opportunist (5545) on Thursday October 21 2021, @06:18AM (#1189096)

    Bullies during my school time threatened to beat your face up if you didn't hand over the lunch money.

    • (Score: 5, Funny) by FatPhil on Thursday October 21 2021, @07:07AM (1 child)

      by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Thursday October 21 2021, @07:07AM (#1189107) Homepage
      And that was just the teachers!
      --
      Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by coolgopher on Thursday October 21 2021, @06:39AM (10 children)

    by coolgopher (1157) on Thursday October 21 2021, @06:39AM (#1189103)

    The better alternative would be to not charge the kids for lunch. Worked well back in my day. And it was more efficient, since we didn't have to wait another five seconds per person...

    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by FatPhil on Thursday October 21 2021, @07:06AM (3 children)

      by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Thursday October 21 2021, @07:06AM (#1189106) Homepage
      Primary/middle school(state): free lunch so nothing to check, one one-hour shift, little-to-no choice so it was just a conveyor belt of people.
      Secondary school 1(private): dunno at all, I think it cost money - I took sandwiches instead, but had one one-hour shift
      Secondary school 2(private): 2-week chosen-in-advance-from-3-things rotating menu, had a card with the 10 choices that you waved at the door, was no slower than food serving so didn't slow anything down. One one-hour shift. Paid in advance per term. Leftovers were free. I ate a lot of those.
      College(state): Pay for what you take cafeteria, open basically most of the day. (In the first year it was slightly different, but I have forgotten what existed before it reinvented itself as a terrible cafe.)

      The closest to "checking" was the 2nd secondary school, and that was "something you have" rather than "something you are" authentication, and it worked fine.

      I believe the Scots have solved a problem of their own creation.
      --
      Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
      • (Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 21 2021, @07:30PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 21 2021, @07:30PM (#1189338)

        > Leftovers were free. I ate a lot of those.

        Well, duh, I think we knew that from your username...(grin)

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 22 2021, @03:22AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 22 2021, @03:22AM (#1189474)

          Stop you grinning, impostor.

          • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday October 22 2021, @07:51AM

            by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Friday October 22 2021, @07:51AM (#1189536) Homepage
            new phone, who dis?
            --
            Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
    • (Score: 2) by looorg on Thursday October 21 2021, @11:37AM (5 children)

      by looorg (578) on Thursday October 21 2021, @11:37AM (#1189153)

      That way you could also then add the benefit of actually making sure that all (or most) of them ate a full meal. If you mandate that the children should be in school then you should also feed them. It's what taxes are for.

      But I guess that would make far to much sense. I wonder how long until the system gets other purposes, why not just take attendance with the system to. Perhaps several times per day so the children doesn't disappear. Then splash in some more corporate sponsorship on the screens so the system pays for itself ...

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 21 2021, @07:34PM (4 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 21 2021, @07:34PM (#1189339)

        > ... then you should also feed them. It's what taxes are for.

        While I caught some bullying and other flack for it, I nearly always brought my own lunch to school. And it was a lot better than the slop that the cafeteria offered. So no, I don't want my taxes paying for lunch--parents that care enough to provide a bag lunch shouldn't have to pay twice. Once I got to a certain age, maybe around 5th grade(?), I assembled my own lunch, my parents just made sure to keep the fridge & pantry stocked.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 21 2021, @09:27PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 21 2021, @09:27PM (#1189405)

          ishardly paying twice, if your bag was better than the slop.

        • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 22 2021, @12:31AM (2 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 22 2021, @12:31AM (#1189439)

          Inhumanely selfish. You could have at least qualified with you don't want your taxes going to unhealthy slop, but instead you assume every family has the same resources yours did. For the good of society as a whole it is worth using taxes to provide badic services for your fellow citizens. Studies routinely show that social benefits programs save money long term and make for a more successful society.

          Then some assholes come along wanting to pinch a few pennies and punish people they personally think are lazy failures. So programs get cut, crime and other societal issues go up. So short sighted.

          Now if you find legitimate waste or corruption, then we can talk about fixing those problems.

          • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 22 2021, @02:28AM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 22 2021, @02:28AM (#1189464)

            "Conservatives by and large don't care about the money. $10/day childcare, I saw this a hundred times in the comments there, "who's going to pay for this", "why should my tax dollars go to pay for that", and you can explain to them again and again and again and again and again that $10/day childcare is going to save *everybody* money, you can explain that housing the homeless is cheaper, you can explain that safe injection sites save millions of dollars in health care money you can explain it until you are red in the face... I've Fucking Done It.

            Deep down, these people don't give a fuck about the money. Fiscal conservatism? Go fuck yourself. You don't give a fuck about the money.

            Then why? Good question, great question, and I hope you're sitting down for this.

            Because they want women, disabled people, drug addicts, the homeless, to suffer and to die in silence and they're willing to pay money for it. They're willing to pay more in taxes, they're willing to pay more for healthcare, they're willing to pay more for housing, for public transport, they're willing to pay more and get less, as long as it means the people they judge not worthy suffer."

            --Newworld Dave
            PS. and, it turns out, school lunches

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 22 2021, @04:51AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 22 2021, @04:51AM (#1189497)

              "If your world view requires a large proportion of the population to be evil and/or stupid then you have probably been captured by someone else's narrative, and are mistaking their thoughts for your own"

              -Daniel Schmachtenburger

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 21 2021, @07:13AM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 21 2021, @07:13AM (#1189109)

    North Ayreshire council claims the majority of parents have given consent for the system because they recognise that it makes the process easier.

    The majority of parents had no real choice because you made this the only option other than “make and bring your own lunch”.

    • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Thursday October 21 2021, @07:59AM (2 children)

      by maxwell demon (1608) on Thursday October 21 2021, @07:59AM (#1189121) Journal

      Also, a majority just means more than 50%. So it could still be that almost half of the parents disagree, without the statement becoming false. There's probably a reason why they didn't use wording like “almost all” or at least “a large majority”.

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
      • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 21 2021, @08:41AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 21 2021, @08:41AM (#1189129)

        Yeah, you and I know the nuances of those words, but in my experience with school administration this phrasing means, “we were surprised and annoyed by the cranks who emailed us saying they were concerned about the system we’d already bought and couldn’t back away from”

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 21 2021, @02:01PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 21 2021, @02:01PM (#1189195)

        Maybe only 72% of the parents cared to respond. And of those, only slightly more (52%) were in favour than against. So now all kids have to live with the consequences of the choices of 37% of their parents, who have already left school (one can hope) so won't be affected by their choices.

    • (Score: 0, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 21 2021, @10:41AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 21 2021, @10:41AM (#1189148)

      At least the front page is no longer Americo-centric, having been taken over by concerns of Brits? At least now SoylentNews is truly international! Although the Canucks are crazy, the Kiwis polite, and the Auzzies gone. Could we have some, oh, ancient Greeks for variety?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 22 2021, @04:55AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 22 2021, @04:55AM (#1189498)

        Don't you have some academic papers of dubious scholarship to write?

  • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 21 2021, @07:36AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 21 2021, @07:36AM (#1189114)

    I do the exact same thing, except I beat them up between scanning their faces and taking their money.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 22 2021, @12:55PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 22 2021, @12:55PM (#1189575)

      You're doing it wrong. Make them form into a queue, fight each other for your amusement, and offer their money voluntarily. After a week, you'll have them convinced it was their own idea to begin with!

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by maxwell demon on Thursday October 21 2021, @08:02AM (1 child)

    by maxwell demon (1608) on Thursday October 21 2021, @08:02AM (#1189122) Journal

    How long until some of them figure out how to make the system misidentify them as someone else?

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    • (Score: 2) by inertnet on Thursday October 21 2021, @03:44PM

      by inertnet (4071) on Thursday October 21 2021, @03:44PM (#1189244) Journal

      No no, It was an experiment when we all put on a headmaster's face mask.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Fnord666 on Thursday October 21 2021, @02:35PM

    by Fnord666 (652) on Thursday October 21 2021, @02:35PM (#1189208) Homepage

    North Ayreshire council claims the majority of parents have given consent for the system because they recognise that it makes the process easier.

    "So this is how liberty dies...with thunderous applause."
    - Senator Padmé Amidala

  • (Score: 2) by legont on Thursday October 21 2021, @05:12PM (2 children)

    by legont (4179) on Thursday October 21 2021, @05:12PM (#1189282)

    In Moscow and SPb one can walk into subway, withdraw money, and pay for groceries by their face alone. No cards or pins are required. It's rare yet, but expanding fast.

    --
    "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
    • (Score: 2) by legont on Thursday October 21 2021, @05:16PM

      by legont (4179) on Thursday October 21 2021, @05:16PM (#1189284)

      It works with mask on too.

      --
      "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 22 2021, @11:25AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 22 2021, @11:25AM (#1189571)

      my brother looks enough like me to unlock iphone... what happens then at school?

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 22 2021, @10:34AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 22 2021, @10:34AM (#1189563)

    This is nothing sort of theft of public funding. Doling out millions to useless AI companies for a totally unnecessary system, machines, costs, complexity, etc.
    A simple card, badge, or just the presence of a school uniform would accomplish all requirements at a micro-fraction of the cost. But thrift makes baby Thatcher cry.

(1)