East of Niagara Falls, NY the Lockport school system is allowing advanced security measures to keep their schools safe this year. Facial recognition technology will be used to check each face entering school buildings against a database of expelled students, sex offenders and other possible troublemakers. However, it is being implemented under pointed criticism and scrutiny. What some deem as a great option to prevent potential violence, others see as a gross violation of privacy and civil rights. This leads to the question, is facial recognition technology a good idea to make schools safe? Maybe, but only with proper planning, implementation and management. What is Electronic Facial Recognition? Facial recognition technology is part of biometrics. Essentially, it uses biological data (e.g. unique features, aka “landmarks”, geometric proportions of facial features, distance between key facial features, and skin surface texture) and electronically stores them as essential elements of an individual’s...
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