Nice, Marseille schools suspended for facial recognition privacy violations

A facial recognition technology pilot project at two high schools in Nice and Marseille to control access to the entrance gate has been suspended by the French data protection authority (CNIL). NGOs, teachers’ unions, and parents had waged a campaign against the project, with AccessNow arguing it would have been able to use students as training subjects for their systems, thereby further eroding their privacy. T he French DPA then determined the project could not be ' implemented legally ', a ruling disregarded by France's Mar du Sud region, which attempted to roll out the project by labeling it 'experimental'. In February 2020, in a case bought by French digital rights group La Quadrature du Net, the Administrative Court of Marseille ruled that the region had no power to take this decision, and that only schools have such powers. It also said that the EU's GDPR had been breached as students’ consent could not be 'freely given' because students could not give free consent as the school’s administration is acting as the higher authority. System 🤖 Unknown Operator: Les Eucalyptus high school, Nice; Ampère high school, Marseille Developer: Cisco Country: France Sector: Education Purpose: Register attendance Technology: Facial recognition Issue: Privacy /surveillance Legal, regulatory 👩🏼‍⚖️ Tribun Adminstratif de Marseille (2020). N° 1901249 Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (2019). Expérimentation de la reconnaissance faciale dans deux lycées : la CNIL précise sa position

Date it happened

2019-10-01

Organisation involved

Les Eucalyptus high school, Nice; Ampère high school, Marseille

This is a record of what was reported, not a finding that anyone broke the law. If it names your organisation and you believe it is wrong, the corrections process is free and open to everyone.