John,
This is bad. A school in Kansas announced that it will be using facial recognition this fall in response to COVID-19.1
We knew that facial recognition companies were exploiting our public health crisis to worm their software into every corner of society. And we knew that other schools had already tested facial recognition.2 But this could be the moment that this invasive and dangerous technology takes off in K-12 schools everywhere.
As a parent, this terrifies me. I don’t want my sons’ biometric data in a database that tracks children, searchable by physical characteristics, and vulnerable to hackers or other bad actors.
Children should not be used as guinea pigs to test technology that strips away their privacy with unknown psychological impacts. Especially when we DO know that it collects data that’s vulnerable to hackers, disproportionately impacts people of color, and speeds up the school-to-prison pipeline.3
No staff or student should be forced to work or learn in this system.
We’re launching a new effort to keep facial recognition out of schools. Can you donate now to get this new campaign off the ground?
DONATE
To stop facial recognition from spreading to schools across the country, we need to take advantage of the momentum right now. Just last week New York State passed a moratorium on facial recognition in schools.4 And lawmakers in Congress have introduced a federal ban on government and law enforcement use of the technology.
People are realizing that this technology is bad news and needs to be reined in before it’s too late.
With your support we can work to pass laws in more states and campaign for Congress to pass federal laws keeping facial recognition out of schools.
We’re at a tipping point—schools are considering this technology, and the companies are pushing to sell it. We have to act fast, and we need your support to get this new effort off the ground. If you can, please chip in to keep facial recognition out of schools.
Together,
Caitlin at Fight for the Future
Footnotes:
1. KSNT: https://www.ksnt.com/news/education-21st-century/usd-501-using-facial-recognition-device-to-increase-building-safety/
2. Wired: https://www.wired.com/story/delicate-ethics-facial-recognition-schools/
3. NYCLU: https://www.nyclu.org/en/publications/stop-student-surveillance-2019
4. TechCrunch: https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/23/new-york-facial-recognition-moratorium/
Fight for the Future works to protect your rights in the digital age.
