Data Watchdog Reprimands Essex School for Using Facial Recognition in Canteens

Data protection watchdog has reprimanded a secondary school in Essex for introducing facial recognition technology (FRT) to take cashless canteen payments from students. Organisations must have a data protection impact assessment (DPIA) in place to use FRT legally. The process identifies and manages the risks that arise from processing sensitive data, such as the student’s biometric information. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has found that Chelmer Valley High School in Chelmsford broke the law after it failed to complete the assessment, before rolling out the FRT in its canteen in March 2023. According to the regulator, the school had not properly obtained clear permission to process sensitive data and students weren’t given the opportunity to decide whether they wanted it used in this way....