The facial recognition file has taken a new turn. And not in the direction intended by the initiators of this technology.
After the European Commission’s intervention, which decided to take its time before making a decision on this subject but implicitly set barriers to its use, it is now the regional administrative court that opposes the implementation of facial recognition in two high schools. This initiative was presented as a pioneering experiment by the Provence-Alpes-Cรดte d’Azur region but criticized by civil liberties advocates.
For reference: At the end of 2018, the region, presided over by Renaud Muselier (LR) – but how not to see the hand of Christian Estrosi demanding the adoption of this technology? – had launched this experiment, with the American IT company Cisco, to equip the Ampรจre high school in Marseille and Les Eucalyptus in Nice with “virtual access control devices.” These cameras were supposed to recognize students to grant them access and to track people’s movements.
In October 2019, the National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL) wrote to Renaud Muselier, President of the Region, to inform him that “facial recognition processes are, by nature, biometric devices that are particularly intrusive and pose significant risks to the privacy and individual freedoms of the individuals concerned.”
Now the court has ruled
The judges of the Marseille administrative court “consider that such biometric processes are disproportionate to the objectives pursued (…).
The court particularly noted that the region had not demonstrated the “public interest” of its system, which merely replaces the classic badge-based control.
Additionally, according to the judgment, students are “in a position of authority” concerning the high school and therefore cannot give “free and informed” consent to the collection of their personal data.
