Everybody was informed and OK.... Except for the students they tracked, nobody asked them.
Sure, they are still minors, and it's up to the parents to decide what goes and what not. But by law the parents in Sweden (and a lot of other places around the world) have an obligation to act in the best interest of their children to their best ability.
I'd argue exposing their children to mass surveillance in school and face recognition was not in the best interest of the child. I'd go further and argue that the parents violated the GDPR themselves, by mishandling or allowing a third party to mishandle with parental consent the data of their kids. This was at least grossly negligent. If I was making the decisions about fines, I'd have fine the parents a minor fine, too, just enough to make them (and other parents reading about it) think about such things next time somebody comes around with an indecent proposal to collect their kids data.
Also, we place, in my opinion rightfully so, certain restrictions on individual choice and decisions. For instance, you cannot kill your neighbor for your pleasure even if they gave you informed consent. These restrictions are of course not set in stone, as e.g. the assisted suicide discussions show, or gay marriage.
There are certain areas that seem benign at first, like e.g. health care providers getting you to wear "health" monitoring devices for a reduction in premiums... until the reductions become so severe that you cannot really opt out anymore, if any health care provider will even take you after you opt out. Or "voluntary" drug tests to get a job, or when already employed. Everybody knows these dejure voluntary tests are defacto mandatory.
I'd argue that mass surveillance and even biometric processing in schools falls in this category too; looks somewhat benign in the beginning, until it isn't.
This is turning into a religious war, with facial recognition being branded absolutely evil.
As I already wrote, I think that being able to locate pupils at all times is a legitimate concern for schools, and parents.
Certainly schools already work hard to achieve this especially with younger children.
I think facial recognition can bring real benefits without many drawbacks if used properly.
An effective blanked ban is not productive or based on reason.
> As I already wrote, I think that being able to locate pupils at all times is a legitimate concern for schools, and parents.
No, no. It's a want. Of course parents want to know where their children are 100% of the time, of course schools want to know where the students are 100% of the time, but children are people too.
Children have the right to lie and keep secrets from their parents. They have the right to privacy, they have the right not to be under automatic surveillance all the time, because they're not fucking prisoners or slaves.
Schools do have a duty of care and safety. They already do make a lot of efforts to know where their pupils are at all times, especially for younger children (obviously).
This is completely different from preventing children from having secrets and from affording them privacy.
I wish we could have a mature discussion on this and avoid hysterical terms and comparisons.
>As I already wrote, I think that being able to locate pupils at all times is a legitimate concern for schools, and parents.
Depends on the age, really. It goes from all the time for really young children, to "locate in a reasonable amount of time, if needed". How long that is depends on the comfort zone of the parents of course, but has to account for allowing children to develop, learn by themselves and grow, or else it's wrongful imprisonment to be honest.
By the way, the "being able to locate all the time" wasn't even the goal of the school. It was to take attendance.
I'd argue exposing their children to mass surveillance in school and face recognition was not in the best interest of the child. I'd go further and argue that the parents violated the GDPR themselves, by mishandling or allowing a third party to mishandle with parental consent the data of their kids. This was at least grossly negligent. If I was making the decisions about fines, I'd have fine the parents a minor fine, too, just enough to make them (and other parents reading about it) think about such things next time somebody comes around with an indecent proposal to collect their kids data.
Also, we place, in my opinion rightfully so, certain restrictions on individual choice and decisions. For instance, you cannot kill your neighbor for your pleasure even if they gave you informed consent. These restrictions are of course not set in stone, as e.g. the assisted suicide discussions show, or gay marriage.
There are certain areas that seem benign at first, like e.g. health care providers getting you to wear "health" monitoring devices for a reduction in premiums... until the reductions become so severe that you cannot really opt out anymore, if any health care provider will even take you after you opt out. Or "voluntary" drug tests to get a job, or when already employed. Everybody knows these dejure voluntary tests are defacto mandatory.
I'd argue that mass surveillance and even biometric processing in schools falls in this category too; looks somewhat benign in the beginning, until it isn't.