Facial recognition to track school attendance would be 'extreme', says Data Protection Commissioner

By Cillian Doyle.

The data protection commissioner says using facial recognition to track school attendance would be an "extreme" move.

Last year a school in Kilkenny looked at using the technology to monitor its pupils.

The plan was scrapped following data privacy concerns.

Commissioner Helen Dixon says in this case, the technology was not needed:

'We jumped on it very quickly.'

'It seemed like a rather extreme implementation for a school'

'In fact in the end they didn't roll out the pilot because once we went through with them, what was involved in terms of the processing of biometric data students, it didn't seem like a necessary interference of the rights of students.'