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Friend,
Children’s safety is always the top priority, but studies show that surveilling students through facial recognition and biometric software does not make schools safer. In fact, this technology endangers students by leaving their most sensitive data at risk of being tracked and targeted by malicious actors. Facial recognition is far less accurate in identifying kids and young people, compounding its well-documented biases toward people of color, women and girls, gender nonconforming people, and people with disabilities.
New York State is poised to ban the use of this broken, biased technology in schools once and for all—but we need your help. New York already has a regulatory ban on facial recognition in schools, recognizing the software’s myriad dangers to youth. Our bill would codify this ban into law, prohibiting public, private, and charter elementary and secondary schools across the state from purchasing or utilizing biometric identifying technology, except for fingerprint identification for prospective employees where written consent is given.
We’re calling on parents to support the School Biometrics Ban today by signing on to our letter to the New York State legislature. Together, we can ensure youth and families across New York’s diverse communities have permanent protection from invasive facial recognition.
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