Cuomo, sign bill to study biometric tech in schools

Earlier this month, it was revealed that the Lockport public school district’s facial recognition system misidentified Black students at higher rates and mistook broom handles for guns. The facial recognition vendor misled the school district about its technology’s accuracy.

This was the most recent controversy facing the $1.4 million facial recognition system, which has proceeded without confronting either the discriminatory or privacy invasions posed by this technology to students. Educators are simply not thinking about how these technologies can affect students.

This summer, the New York Legislature passed critical legislation that pauses the use of facial recognition in schools and directs the state education commissioner to study how biometrics in general are being used in education settings statewide. Gov. Andrew Cuomo should sign the bill before it expires at the end of this year.

Too often, schools purchase biometric snake oil based on the sales pitch of a for-profit vendor, without evaluating the technology’s accuracy, security, and likely effects on the learning environment, and without getting feedback from parents, teachers, and students. During the pandemic, we’ve seen companies push technology tools as ways to detect cheating in remote learning exams (such as test-taking tools that analyze students’ faces) or potentially identify students with COVID in the classroom (like thermal imaging cameras). The quality of these tools varies wildly and their effectiveness isn’t backed by any evidence. Facial recognition companies even acknowledge they’ve over-promised by claiming their tech can stop school shootings, for example.

A pause is warranted. Everyone agrees student information should never be exploited for commercial purposes or used to the detriment of students, but biometrics require special consideration before being introduced in classrooms. Studying how these technologies are used in schools is a way for New York to demonstrate its commitment to students and teachers and show national leadership on the issues.

The bill before Cuomo is a balanced compromise. It doesn’t enact a blanket ban on biometrics in schools or encourage a facial recognition free-for-all. We hope the governor signs it before the new year.