LOCKPORT, N.Y. — Security cameras and surveillance are part of everyday life, from libraries, to malls and schools.
But one district's move to ramp up its surveillance next fall to include facial recognition has drawn the ire of the New York Civil Liberties Union, or NYCLU.
"Historically, facial recognition doesn't work very well with children, it’s inconsistent with people of color and women,” said NYCLU Western Regional Director John A. Curr III.
The Lockport City School District announced plans to install the tech earlier this year to help increase safety.
But Curr says this move raises privacy concerns.
"Who has access to this data? How long will they retain it and why?” said Curr, "We need to make sure that if this can't be stopped, that we have the highest possible privacy protections in place to protect all of our students and staff members in those schools."
According to the district, here's how that info would be used:
- All data is stored in a district server for 60 days
- The program will include photos of anyone that the district deems a security concern (i.e. sex offenders)
- The program will only be alerted if someone on school property matches those photos
- Any data relevant to that alert will only be stored for a "limited time"
The $4 million project was funded with a state bond, and the district says it feels "confident that this was a wise use" of that money.
It adds in part that this system will enhance campus security because under its current system, recorded video has to be manually reviewed, which slows response times.
Curr says the NYLCU has written the state education department, asking for that state bond to be pulled from the district. It also sent the district a public information request to learn more about what happens to that data.
"It's long past time to go back to education and educating in our schools. We need more routes and avenues available for children and students' growth than we do for putting them in the school to prison pipeline,” said Curr.
The district’s full response can be read below:
The District would like to take this opportunity to clarify and affirm several aspects of the District’s implementation of the Aegis facial recognition program. First, by way of background, the District more than a decade ago installed security cameras at school building entrances and other areas on campus. The data from those cameras is stored for 60 days on a server in the custody of the District. The Aegis program will simply be an additional procedural step within the District’s existing camera security system. The District will enter into the Aegis program photographic images of individuals for whom the District may have a security concern, such as sex offenders or students who have been suspended or expelled. The Aegis program will then issue an alert to District representatives if any of the data recorded through the District’s security cameras matches the image of an individual entered by the District into the Aegis program. The Aegis program will not retain any of the security camera data unless an alert is triggered, and only then data relevant to the alert will be retained for a very limited period of time. Instead, just as currently, all data recorded by the District’s security cameras will ultimately be transmitted to a District-maintained server and stored for 60 days. The Aegis program will not change the nature, scope or storage of the data recorded by the District’s security cameras, and once Aegis is fully implemented no third party vendor will have access to that data. Aegis is simply a tool to better use security camera data to try to prevent threats to the safety and welfare of the District’s students, staff and visitors.
The District’s use of Smart School Bond Act monies for the installation of the Aegis program was approved by the New York State Education Department, and the District’s use and custody of the data recorded through the District’s security cameras remains subject to all applicable standards governing school district data use and storage. The District continues to be convinced that the installation of the Aegis program constitutes a wise use of a portion of the District’s SSBA funds, and that the program will greatly enhance the District’s ability to prevent threats to welfare and safety. The data currently recorded by the District’s security cameras must be manually reviewed, and its use is largely limited to responding to incidents that have already occurred.
The District was copied on a letter dated June 18, 2018 from the New York Civil Liberties Union to Commissioner Elia relating to the Aegis program, and the District will continue to monitor any further developments from the State Education Department.