London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Oct 31, 2025

Nine UK schools tell schoolkids to pay for lunch via FACIAL RECOGNITION as opponents warn it normalizes surveillance state

Nine UK schools tell schoolkids to pay for lunch via FACIAL RECOGNITION as opponents warn it normalizes surveillance state

Nine Scottish elementary schools have embraced a pilot plan to deploy facial recognition technology to verify children's school lunch payments, insisting the system is faster and more hygienic, while dodging the privacy issue.
A group of nine schools in North Ayrshire has begun scanning students' faces to record school lunch payments, praising the new high-tech system for speeding up the transaction process and minimizing physical contact between individuals. The program officially began on Monday, replacing the schools' previous system of card-swiping and fingerprint scanning.

"With Facial Recognition, pupils simply select their meal, look at the camera and go, making for a faster lunch service whist removing any contact at the point of sale," a flyer distributed to parents by the schools reads, while an FAQ sheet reassures them that kids' data is stored in an encrypted format and deleted when they leave the school.

Parents supposedly have to opt in in order for the tech to be used, though it's not clear what alternatives will be available to those who decline to adopt the new system. The firm in charge, CRB Cunninghams, boasted that its facial recognition setup cut payment time to a mere five seconds on average, and managing director David Swanston revealed 65 more schools were in line to roll out the program, which was first piloted in 2020.

Cameras check captured images against encrypted "faceprint" templates representing individual students, which are stored on servers at the schools rather than at some central location, Swanston told the Financial Times on Sunday, stressing that CRB's system was different from "live" facial recognition tech, which scans crowds to identify faces. The latter practice has been banned in New York and penalized in a Swedish municipality that adopted it on a trial basis.

North Ayrshire council defended the new system by contrasting it with the previous one, explaining "pupils often forget their [personal identification numbers] and unfortunately some have also been the victim of PIN fraud, so they are supportive of the planned developments and appreciate the benefits to them." However, while the council claimed 97% of parents and children consented to enroll in the biometric program, some parents acknowledged their children's approval might be motivated by peer pressure or other outside forces.

Parents themselves are unlikely to fully grasp the implications of the technology, and the growing frequency of hack attacks and leaks from such systems is unlikely to instill faith in those who do understand the setup. Worse, a Freedom of Information request by Pippa King, proprietor of the Biometrics in Schools blog, revealed the Department for Education has zero data related to the use of facial recognition in schools, meaning the pupils of North Ayrshire will essentially serve as guinea pigs.

Activist Silkie Carlo of pro-privacy group Big Brother Watch argued the biometric lunch setup was a dangerous step down a slippery slope, "normalizing biometric identity checks for something that is mundane."

"You don't need to resort to airport-style [technology] for children getting their lunch," she said.

The Biometrics Commissioner for England and Wales has also cautioned against deploying technology for technology's sake. "If there is a less intrusive way, that should be used," Fraser Sampson told the Times.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Shawbrook IPO Marks London’s Biggest UK Listing in Two Years
UK Government Split Over Backing Brazil’s $125 Billion Tropical Forest Fund Ahead of COP30
J.K. Rowling Condemns Glamour UK Feature of Nine Trans Women as 'Men Better at Being Women'
King Charles III Removes Prince Andrew’s Titles and Orders His Departure from Royal Lodge
UK Finance Minister Reeves Releases Email Correspondence to Clarify Rental-Licence Breach
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
×