Cheshta TaterCo-founder, Rightantra Babies can tell faces as early as three months old. Soon, they learn to identify emotions, expressions, and gaze cues. Not being able to identify the same could slow an infant’s speech and social development. Undoubtedly, facial recognition is an important landmark in development. The same was true for technology. But would you want someone to be looking at your face 24X7? Introducing facial recognition technology in school premises may benefit streamlining certain processes, ensuring safety, and aiding educators in identifying non-verbal emotions. Advocates of the presence of the technology in educational institutes weigh the improvement of services and safety higher than associated risks of invasion of privacy. Associated benefits highlighted include:
Baymax Syndrome If you tell a five-year-old that they are getting their “own personal” Baymax, that child is going to be thrilled. There would be absolutely no reason why the child would say no to someone as caring and cool as Baymax. In that moment of decision or excitement, the child does not care for how Baymax operates — how it collects data, where it sends the data, or even what ‘data’ means. This is what I call the ‘Baymax Syndrome’ (yes, I just came up with it). Children only see a talking fluff-ball and often cannot comprehend the complex privacy risks that come along with advanced technology such as Baymax. The same applies to the many, many apps children use or game on. As long as a child is enjoying the result of the technology, associated risks are overlooked. Facial recognition could face the same fate. Peek-a-Boo Privacy as a fundamental right is not limited to physical privacy. Interestingly, it is not even limited to keeping some information ‘secret’. It goes as far as to allow you to control your information — how, why, and with whom you share and for how long. This control is referred to as “consent”. Consent, choice, and control are crucial to exercising the right to privacy. However, consent of minors does not hold good in the eyes of law. The legal guardians of the minors consent on behalf of the child. In countries like the USA and the UK, children can legally consent in matters of privacy and data from the age of thirteen years. Both these countries, amongst others like Canada and the EU nations, have privacy legislations in place. In simple words, the law of the land is clear on the extent of the right to privacy and prescribes remedies in case of violation. Unfortunately, India does not have such a law presently. The Data Protection Bill will be tabled in the Indian Parliament in the upcoming winter season, with over 200 suggested changes from its previous version. While it is great that the Parliament is taking the Bill seriously and recommending changes to make it better, the Bill is long due. The absence of an enacted law leaves room for grey areas and opportunities for exploitation. Assuming the best case where all parents understand the implications of facial recognition technology being implemented in schools and that they consent keeping the best interests of their child in mind, educational institutes in India are presently not bound to have a privacy policy in place! News reports suggest that Delhi schools have blatantly disregarded the need for privacy policies. Not only the data of children is being collected without their or their parents’ consent, but there is also no way of knowing the extent to which the data is being processed. I’m sure that at this juncture, you’ve got the same thought as these schools: “but the schools already have pictures of all students because of physical forms. Isn’t that consent enough?” Well, it’s not. Facial Recognition Technology or FRT is not the same as collecting images of subjects (in our case, students). FRT uses Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) to study, repeatedly, and learn non-verbal cues. For example, it can categorise ‘closed eyes’ as a sign of disinterest. Yes, the technology is mostly used for ID verification but free consent is about all possibilities. The children and their parents need to know the following before giving or denying consent:
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