TOTALLY WEIRD: A NYC school is about to start testing facial recognition on its students

LOCKPORT, New York — In what is certainly going to become a legal showdown, a New York school district is under intense scrutiny this weekend after it revealed that facial recognition cameras/software are heaaded for school grounds.

The western New York school district apparently made the announcement as it attempts to “collect data” (“their own words”) and hopes that the system will allow them to further understand needed safety; protocol, and other measures that would be in place across their school district.

“[State Education Department] representatives previously communicated to the District their recommendation that the System not become operational until the dialogue between the District and SED with regard to student data security and privacy is complete,” the statement, sent by the district’s director of technology, Robert LiPuma, to BuzzFeed News, said. “However, the District’s Initial Implementation Phase of the System (which will commence June 3, 2019 and continue through August 31, 2019) will not include any student data being entered into the System database or generated by the System.”