The New York Civil Liberties Union has asked New York State education officials to revoke funding for a project to install facial recognition software in Lockport schools.
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THOMAS J. PROHASKA ON JUN 20, 2018
SOURCE: MCCLATCHY, SecurityInfoWatch.com
June 19--The New York Civil Liberties Union has asked New York State education officials to revoke funding for a project to install facial recognition software in Lockport schools.
The organization contends the Lockport school district's plan endangers the rights of students and teachers.
In a letter Monday, the NYCLU asked the state Education Department to cancel its approval of the $2.75 million project.
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"It is alarming that Lockport's proposal for use of facial recognition technology was not subject to further scrutiny due to its privacy implications and other civil liberties concerns," wrote John A. Curr III, NYCLU western region director, and Stefanie D. Coyle, education counsel, to Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia.
By the time school reopens in September, some 300 new surveillance cameras are to be installed in 10 Lockport City School District buildings, along with software that the vendor, SN Technologies of Canada, says will match the faces seen by the cameras to lists of criminals, sex offenders and other barred people. District officials have mentioned noncustodial parents and suspended or expelled students as others whose facial images could be included in the software.
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When the software makes a match, an alarm is to be sent automatically to district officials and perhaps to police, who can use the information to track down the intruder.
"The data currently recorded by the District's security cameras must be manually reviewed, and its use is largely limited to responding to incidents that have already occurred," Lockport School Superintendent Michelle T. Bradley said in an email to The Buffalo News.
Critics like Jim Shultz, the father of a Lockport High School student, contend the response time will be only a few seconds faster. Shultz said it would be cheaper and more effective to harden the entrances to schools to make it harder for intruders to enter in the first place.
The district is spending $2.75 million on the cameras and software from SN Technologies' Aegis system.
