UK Schools Normalizing Biometric Collection By Using Facial Recognition For Meal Payments

from the cutting-off-your-nose-to-spite-your-remaining-canteen-balance dept

Subjecting students to surveillance tech is nothing new. Most schools have had cameras installed for years. Moving students from desks to laptops allows schools to monitor internet use, even when students aren't on campus. Bringing police officers into schools to participate in disciplinary problems allows law enforcement agencies to utilize the same tech and analytics they deploy against the public at large. And if cameras are already in place, it's often trivial to add facial recognition features.

The same tech that can keep kids from patronizing certain retailers is also being used to keep deadbeat kids from scoring free lunches. While some local governments in the United States are trying to limit the expansion of surveillance tech in their own jurisdictions, governments in the United Kingdom seem less concerned about the mission creep of surveillance technology.

Some students in the UK are now able to pay for their lunch in the school canteen using only their faces. Nine schools in North Ayrshire, Scotland, started taking payments using biometric information gleaned from facial recognition systems on Monday, according to the Financial Times. [alt link]

The technology is being provided by CRB Cunningham, which has installed a system that scans the faces of students and cross-checks them against encrypted faceprint templates stored locally on servers in the schools. It's being brought in to replace fingerprint scanning and card payments, which have been deemed less safe since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the Financial Times report, 65 schools have already signed up to participate in this program, which has supposedly dropped transaction times at the lunchroom register to less than five seconds per student. I assume that's an improvement, but it seems fingerprints/cards weren't all that slow and there are plenty of options for touchless payment if schools need somewhere to spend their cafeteria tech money.

CRB says more than 97% of parents have consented to the collection and use of their children's biometric info to… um… move kids through the lunch line faster. I guess the sooner you get kids used to having their faces scanned to do mundane things, the less likely they'll be to complain when demands for info cross over into more private spaces.

The FAQ on the program makes it clear it's a single-purpose collection governed by a number of laws and data collection policies. Parents can opt out at any time and all data is deleted after opt out or if the student leaves the school. It's good this is being handled responsibly but, like all facial recognition tech, mistakes can (and will) be made. When these inevitably occur, hopefully the damage will be limited to a missed meal.

The FAQ handles questions specifically about this program. The other flyer published by the North Ayrshire Council explains nothing and implies facial recognition is harmless, accurate, and a positive addition to students' lives.

We're introducing Facial Recognition!

This new technology is now available for a contactless meal service!

Following this exciting announcement, the flyer moves on to discussing biometric collections and the tech that makes it all possible. It accomplishes this in seven short "land of contrasts" paragraphs that explain almost nothing and completely ignore the inherent flaws in these systems as well as the collateral damage misidentification can cause.

The section titled "The history of biometrics" contains no history. Instead, it says biometric collections are already omnipresent so why worry about paying for lunch with your face?

Whilst the use of biometric recognition has been steadily growing over the last decade or so, these past couple of years have seen an explosion in development, interest and vendor involvement, particularly in mobile devices where they are commonly used to verify the owner of the device before unlocking or making purchases.

If students want to learn more (or anything) about the history of biometrics, I guess they'll need to do their own research. Because this is the next (and final) paragraph of the "history of biometrics" section:

We are delighted to offer this fast and secure identification technology to purchase our delicious and nutritious school meals

Time is a flattened circle, I guess. The history of biometrics is the present. And the present is the future of student payment options, of which there are several. But these schools have put their money on facial recognition, which will help them raise a generation of children who've never known a life where they weren't expected to use their bodies to pay for stuff.

Filed Under: biometrics, facial recognition, meals, payments, schools, students, uk

DailyDirt: No Meatless Mondays For Cavemen...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Modern humans have all sorts of wacky diets that are probably slowly killing us in ways we don't fully recognize, but that doesn't mean we should all start eating the way people did thousands or millions of years ago, either. Drinking a "soylent green" all liquid or all processed diet doesn't sound like an optimal solution, but if grown adults want to eat fancy baby food, let them try that experiment (and I'll volunteer to be in the control group). If you want to know more about pre-historic meals, though, check out a few of these links.

• Early human ancestors ate meat which likely improved brain development, and there's evidence of million-year-old butchery on bone fragments with cuts marks. Eating meat, even today, appears to have cognitive benefits for children -- based on a controlled study of hundreds of school-aged kids in Kenya. A healthy diet doesn't necessarily mean more meat is better, but there is evidence that no meat at all correlates with certain problems. [url]
• Using tools to cut raw meat probably allowed our early ancestors to spend less time chewing -- and more time doing other things. Before anyone cooked anything, we needed larger jaw muscles and bigger teeth to eat a real paleo diet. [url]
• If you ever wondered why prehistoric people didn't need to brush their teeth, the answer is that they ate different foods. Early humans ate more meat and not much in the way of grains and sugars, and the bacteria in our ancestors' mouths were more friendly and less harmful than the mouth microbiomes of today. [url]

After you've finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.

Filed Under: ancestors, butchery, diet, early humans, food, health, meals, meat, microbiome, paleo diet, teeth

DailyDirt: Sealed For Freshness... In Plastic

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

What is a healthy meal? If you look closely enough at almost anything, you'll find it's not as simple as you might expect. Should you eat more fruits and vegetables? Of course you should. But what if the fruit is pre-cut and conveniently packaged (or comes with a free frogurt)? Marketing healthy (or "healthier") foods is making it a bit confusing to know what's really healthy and what's just over-priced and convenient. Yay!

• Whole Foods has apologized for selling peeled tangerines in a plastic containers. Some people complained that pre-peeling tangerines and putting them in plastic was wasteful, but it seems only to apply to single fruits, not when you cut up different fruits and mix them before you sell them in plastic containers. (Or to pre-cut vegetable trays.) [url]
• Selling pre-peeled bananas, though, does seem a bit unnecessary. A few years ago, an Austrian grocery store sold bananas wrapped in clear plastic on a foam tray without banana peels. (At least the argument over which end to start peeling a banana first was neatly avoided.) [url]
• Processed foods are getting a bad reputation, but are Americans really starting to eat fresher foods? The trends point to a "snackification" of food, where people aren't buying sit-down meals as much as pre-portioned snacks. Maybe consumers think they're eating healthier (or trying to), but maybe not. [url]

After you've finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.

Filed Under: fast food, food, fruits, health, marketing, meals, packaging, plastic, snackification, snacks
Companies: whole foods

DailyDirt: Meals From Around The World

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

People eat all kinds of different things in different parts of the world. Some countries have well-known traditional meals and menu items, and foodies all over the internet are posting pictures of what they're eating all the time. Food-obsessed folks seem to like to capture snapshots of food -- both good and bad -- for fun and commentary. Here are some global food snapshots for you to look over that might not be all that appetizing.

• Military food rations from different countries have surprising variety. There are some similarities, such as: chocolate, isotonic drinks, muesli, pâté, coffee, chewing gum and disinfectant wipes. [url]
• Kids all over the world are posting pictures of their school lunches on the internet. However, some of the photos that are supposed to represent a country's school lunch program aren't very accurate -- and it's fascinating to see some comparisons of what could be served and what actually is. [url]
• Oxfam reports that the Netherlands is the easiest country in the world for getting a balanced, nutritious diet. The US and Japan tied for a spot in 21st place, and Canada landed at 25th. Obviously, the global food distribution system could use some improvements since there's enough food for everyone, but obesity and starvation still exist. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: diet, food, health, meals, menu, nutritious, rations, school lunches
Companies: oxfam

DailyDirt: Christmas Dinner Isn't The Same Without...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

If you're getting ready for a holiday meal meal with family, you might be planning anything from going to a Chinese restaurant to an elaborate home-cooked turkey. Whatever the case may be, there are more than a few holiday traditions out there. Check out a few of these delicious dishes.

• Here's a Christmas tradition that you might not be aware of: buying a live carp, having it live in your bathtub for a while until Christmas Eve, then serving it for dinner. Apparently, several European countries have practiced this (eg. Slovakia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany and Croatia), and it's a ritual that's not even restricted to Christianity. [url]
• In the Philippines, the Christmas Eve feast after midnight mass is rellenong manok -- a stuffed boneless chicken. This dish is related to the Spanish pollo relleno, but it has changed significantly over the years with influences from American cuisine. [url]
• In Japan, KFC's successful Kurisumasu ni wa kentakkii! (Kentucky for Christmas!) campaign from 1974 has created a tradition of Japanese people eating far more fried chicken than anyone would otherwise expect. Only about one percent of the Japanese population is Christian, but people stand in line for this commercial tradition. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: carp, christmas, culture, dinner, kfc, kurisumasu ni wa kentakkii, meals, rellenong manok, traditions
Companies: kfc

DailyDirt: Space Food For Thought

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

With more manned space missions planned (both governmental and commercial), the menus for astronauts could be expanding -- especially for passengers of Virgin Galactic flights who might expect more than a bag of peanuts for their tickets. Here are just a few items that have already made it onto space menus.

• Somewhat unexpected foods have been eaten in space -- such as sushi, smuggled communion wafers, and a secretly-stashed corned beef sandwich. Emeril Lagasse and Rachel Ray have also prepared a few recipes for space meals. [url]
• About 9 months prior to a mission, NASA astronauts start picking out what they'll eat while they're up in space. Tang wasn't designed for any space program, but its powdered formula is a convenient way to store flavored beverages for spaceflights. NASA-approved beverages include coffee, tea, apple cider, orange juice and lemonade. [url]
• NASA has published several fact sheets on what astronauts eat in space. Random factoid: SkyLab was apparently the only spacecraft that offered both a freezer and fridge for food storage. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

Filed Under: astronauts, emeril, food, meals, rachel ray, skylab, space, tang
Companies: nasa

DailyDirt: Expensive Meals

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

A nice meal is a nice meal, regardless of the price. But if you want to show off your considerable fortunes, try serving up a few of these ingredients in your next culinary creation. (Maybe if you're a newly-minted billionaire, recently married... and have a penchant for killing your own food?)

• If you like really expensive vegetables, forget white asparagus, hop shoots are where it's at. But unless they're specially cultivated, the shoots will turn green and become tough and rope-like. [url]
• European white truffles go for thousands of dollars per pound, found by trained dogs (not pigs who will sometimes eat the fungus). Time to start cultivating these in a lab -- or at least a quick DNA test to confirm the species... [url]
• About 150 flowers are needed to produce one gram of saffron -- and a lot of human labor. Fortunately, it doesn't take a lot to impart its flavor into foods, but avoid the fake stuff and don't buy ground saffron. [url]
• To discover more food-related links, check out what's floating around in StumbleUpon. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: asparagus, expensive, food, fungus, hop shoots, meals, saffron, truffles

DailyDirt: Happier Meals on The Way

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Eating healthier has a lot of benefits. And all sorts of food distributors are trying to figure out ways to incorporate healthy snacks into people's meals... while still keeping profits as high as the usual not-so-healthy snacks. Here are just a few examples.

• McD's is about to change their Happy Meals by adding some healthier snacks to them. Hmm. Does adding fries to a Healthy Meal make it a Happy Meal? [url]
• Healthier salads are on the way -- replacing romaine lettuce with other varieties of greens. Not just healthier, but also more amenable to machine processing, too... [url]
• Folks seem to like baby carrots a lot more than regular carrots... but not carrots cut up into little balls. And don't advertise carrots as healthy anymore. [url]
• To discover more food-related links, check out what's floating around in StumbleUpon. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: carrots, eating, healthy, meals, salads, snacks
Companies: mcdonald's