The Lockport City School District in Western New York seeks to provide an answer to maintaining student and faculty safety in the face of gun violence and sex crimes as they prepare to pilot Aegis, a facial recognition system that will be implemented within all eight schools belonging to the Lockport City School District starting June 3, 2019. Aegis will be the first of its kind utilized within a public school in the United States.
Aegis
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According to Buzzfeed News, the eight schools that compose the Lockport City School District will launch Aegis, the facial recognition software in question on Monday, June 3, 2019, with the intention of making it fully functional by September 1, 2019, in time for the new school year. Superintendent of the school district, Michelle Bradley, first disclosed the district’s intention to move forward with a trial of Aegis on May 28, 2019, to the Lockport Union-Sun and Journal. Bradley explicated on the district’s immediate intentions, stating that the first few months of installment were to act as both a test of the system, as well as a training period for employees to learn how to interact with the software and report potential dangers to local police. While the intention of Aegis is an increase in safety for both students and faculty, its implementation comes at a time of escalated suspicion toward facial recognition programs nationwide.
Facial Recognition – A Weapon Of Social Control?
https://twitter.com/daveyalba/status/1131350812167417856
The suspicion directed toward facial recognition software has to do with questions of overall efficacy, as well as the dangers such software could bring to people of color as it has the potential to “entrench societal biases,” whether intentionally or not. According to Buzzfeed reporters, studies have emerged tracking the mistakes made by facial recognition software, which have tended to reveal that higher levels of inaccuracies exist when facial recognition software is used on women and people of color – an outcome that raises the negative potential of Aegis far above that of the positive. Due to these failings, San Francisco banned their police forces from utilizing facial recognition earlier in May of 2019 and other bills throughout the U.S. are attempting to follow suit. Even the corporate giant, Amazon, has been pressured by both the public and its own shareholders to rescind its ardent support and salesmanship of facial recognition to law enforcement. House Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took the opportunity during the congressional hearing on technology to communicate her belief that facial recognition software, with its failings that seem to favor the white male population, could be utilized as a fascist tool that would enable the government and large corporations to control the nonwhite, nonmale masses.
The FAQ
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Welcome to the fight for the 4th + 14th amendments! https://t.co/Ez6DJjfaAz— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 22, 2019
Attempting to justify the use of Aegis in light of gun violence, an FAQ released to district parents and obtained by Buzzfeed states: “Aegis is an early warning system that informs staff of threats including guns or individuals who have been identified as not allowed in our buildings. Aegis has the ability [to screen] every door and throughout buildings to identify people or guns. Early detection of a threat to our schools allows for a quicker and more effective response.” The FAQ also detailed that Aegis would specifically track “level 2 or 3 sex offenders, students who have been suspended from school, staff who have been suspended and/or are on administrative leave, any persons that have been notified that they may not be present on District property, anyone prohibited from entry to District property by court order … or anyone believed to pose a threat based on credible information presented to the District.” While the FAQ goes on to claim that Aegis “will not generate information on or record the movements of any other district students, staff or visitors,” previous research done by Buzzfeed News has shown that, in order to detect the faces of those who fit the above criteria, Aegis must also analyze the faces of others who do not match these criteria in order to eliminate them. In congruence with the Lockport Journal‘s report, Buzzfeed reported that Aegis will be able to “detect 10 types of guns.” The FAQ also addresses parental concerns that the footage Aegis accumulates will be stored, stating that it will be erased from the school’s server after 60 days. However, these tidbits of information are not enough to distract from the technology’s invasive properties.
The New York Civil Liberties Union Investigates
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Jim Schultz, a resident of Lockport, expressed his skepticism of Aegis, as well as the belief that the school district is rushing to install it despite criticism so that they don’t begin another school year with the pricey system sitting stagnant. Funded by the New York Smart School Bond Act, Aegis is not necessarily the intended use of the bond money as the act was originally executed to assist schools in bolstering their instructional technology, which most obviously refers to the provision of laptops and iPads. However, as reported by Buzzfeed News, a large portion of the $4.2 million Lockport was given through the grant was spent on the installment of “dozens of surveillance cameras” throughout the school, as well as Aegis and its implementation, which has currently racked up a total cost of $1.4 million. The concern over the installment of Aegis within the Lockport School District is not limited to residents and parents but extends to the greater New York area. Upon the initial announcement of Aegis’s installation, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) expressed immediate concern through the writing of letters that were sent to the New York State Education Department containing pleas that it intercepts Aegis’s installment. Stefanie Coyle, the education counsel for NCYLU, described her fear of Aegis and facial recognition technologies by calling public attention to the fact that San Francisco, “the major city closest to all the people who understand this tech the best,” have banned their police forces from using facial recognition technology. Why then, she asks, “would we want this to come to New York, and in a place where there are children?”
A Bill To Block Aegis
The NYS Ed Dept just called on Lockport Schools to delay the implementation of its facial recognition program.
The school district would be the first in the country to use facial recognition on students and faculty.
Here's why we should all be concerned: pic.twitter.com/hfoCbR5DdI
— NYCLU (@NYCLU) May 30, 2019
In light of widespread concern and criticism regarding the anticipated use of Aegis, New York State Assembly Member Monica Wallace has advocated for a bill that would require Lockport to delay their installment of Aegis for the duration of one year while the State Education Department further investigates the technology. However, Stefanie Coyle has drawn attention to the fact that the New York State Assembly’s legislative session is nearly complete, as it comes to an end in June, leaving very little time for the bill to at least temporarily block Aegis to be passed. Skeptical of the limited time the State Assembly has left, Coyle laments that if the bill “doesn’t pass this session, there’s nothing that will stop Lockport from implementing this facial recognition system in the fall” – a prospect that has left many on the edge of their seats with fearful anticipation.
