London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Aug 30, 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
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
A new faith called Robotheism claims artificial intelligence isn’t just smart but actually God itself
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner Purchases Third Property Amid Housing Tax Reforms Debate
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Italian Facebook Group Sharing Intimate Images Without Consent Shut Down Amid Police Investigation
Dutch Foreign Minister Resigns Amid Deadlock Over Israel Sanctions
Trump and Allies Send Messages of Support to Ukraine on Independence Day Amid Ongoing Conflict
China Reels as Telegram Chat Group Shares Hidden-Camera Footage of Women and Children
Sam Nicoresti becomes first transgender comedian to win Edinburgh Comedy Award
Builders uncover historic human remains in Lancashire house renovation
Australia Wants to Tax Your Empty Bedrooms
MotoGP Cameraman Narrowly Avoids Pedro Acosta Crash at Hungarian Grand Prix
FBI Investigates John Bolton Over Classified Documents in High-Profile Raids
Report reveals OpenAI pitched national ChatGPT Plus subscription to UK ministers
×