The Danger of Facial Recognition in Our Children’s Classroom

By: Nila Bala The use of facial recognition in classrooms to monitor students’ performance is already happening in China and soon may be coming to the West. Surveilling students in their classrooms presents a number of potential harms: (1) it implicates their privacy, (2) it could have profound effects on their development and stigmatizes youth who develop differently, and (3) it might amplify current inequities in our school system. Additionally, there are societal harms from this practice to our democratic society. To the extent that educators wish to employ this technology, our current legal regime is inadequate to mitigate the harms. While some changes could be made to better protect privacy and equity, ultimately, lawmakers and schools should consider banning facial recognition within classrooms. Download Full Article (PDF) Cite: 18 Duke L. & Tech. Rev. 249