Big Brother Facial recognition technology proposed for school buses
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Pastor Dale Morgan
Mar 11, 2010, 3:20:03 AM3/11/10
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Big Brother Facial recognition technology proposed for school buses
Company wants to use Seekonk as test subject in student tracking pilot program
By George Morse
East Bay Newspapers
SEEKONK - Described by school superintendent Madeline P. Meyer as “cutting edge technology,” the Seekonk School Committee is currently weighing a proposal from Volpe Industries Inc. (VPI) to place GPS tracking and facial recognition equipment on a Seekonk school bus.
On Friday, Feb. 12, the school committee received a letter from VPI President/CEO Christopher Volpe inquiring whether or not there was interest in taking part in a type of “pilot program” for bus and student tracking. According to the letter, VPI (a local business supplier of video surveillance systems located on Route 44) is currently developing a system that will allow school departments to monitor and track their buses throughout town.
“The concept is to mount two small cameras, a mini computer and GPS tracking equipment in each bus,” reads the letter.
What this system would allow, Mr. Volpe said, is as follows:
n GPS tracking of all buses to monitor real-time location.
n The ability for school administration to view the interior of all buses, with optional listen and talk capabilities.
n Video recording of all activity on the bus while picking up and dropping off students with optional audio.
n Tracking of all students with facial recognition to confirm that the student got on or off the correct bus.
n Additional profile information that can be displayed to each driver such as a child’s special medical needs or who is allowed to pick up the child.
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While cellular, GPS and facial recognition technology aren’t new, Mr. Volpe said they haven’t been combined in this fashion previously.
“We’re just pulling all the different technologies together into one package,” he said.
Outside of school buses, Mr. Volpe said the technology has larger applications on public transit in general. If proven to work correctly, Mr. Volpe said the technology could be used to recognize individual’s tagged for security reasons or those with outstanding warrants on trains or buses.
“This is leading edge technology that will combine multiple technologies of video recording, facial recognition, wireless connectivity and GPS tracking into one package,” Mr. Volpe said. “The ultimate goal is the safety of the kids as well as accountability, making sure driver didn’t do anything wrong. There’s a lot of different fringe benefits.”
Such a program, however, is not without ethical implications. Mr. Volpe said he is aware of the ethics involved with such technology, but the immediate and current focus is only on seeing whether or not it works.
“What we’re doing is just testing the technology. We don’t plan on impeding anyone’s privacy or anything else the school department isn’t comfortable doing … We just want to test it,” Mr. Volpe said.
Should the school committee elect for a town bus to become part of the pilot program, Mr. Volpe said, the equipment could be removed at the program’s conclusion. If the school committee liked the results, however, Mr. Volpe said the equipment could either be donated or sold to Seekonk at a “drastically reduced rate.” Seekonk would also receive “extreme discounting” on all future bus systems, if interested, by taking part in the pilot program.
Should the school committee elect to take part, Mr. Volpe said the pilot program would need to run for about two to four weeks to determine if the system works.
On Monday night, the school committee did not take any action on the proposal. Instead, the group decided to forward the matter to it’s legal counsel, Murphy Hesse Toomey and Lehane LLP, to see what ramifications the proposal could have on student confidentiality, or other issues.
Ms. Meyer said the firm was contacted on Tuesday and an answer was expected in a few days. Along with his letter, Ms. Meyer said Mr. Volpe offered to attend a scheduled school committee work session on March 15 to explain the program further.
Big Brother Facial recognition technology proposed for school buses
Company wants to use Seekonk as test subject in student tracking pilot program
By George Morse
East Bay Newspapers
SEEKONK - Described by school superintendent Madeline P. Meyer as “cutting edge technology,” the Seekonk School Committee is currently weighing a proposal from Volpe Industries Inc. (VPI) to place GPS tracking and facial recognition equipment on a Seekonk school bus.
On Friday, Feb. 12, the school committee received a letter from VPI President/CEO Christopher Volpe inquiring whether or not there was interest in taking part in a type of “pilot program” for bus and student tracking. According to the letter, VPI (a local business supplier of video surveillance systems located on Route 44) is currently developing a system that will allow school departments to monitor and track their buses throughout town.
“The concept is to mount two small cameras, a mini computer and GPS tracking equipment in each bus,” reads the letter.
What this system would allow, Mr. Volpe said, is as follows:
n GPS tracking of all buses to monitor real-time location.
n The ability for school administration to view the interior of all buses, with optional listen and talk capabilities.
n Video recording of all activity on the bus while picking up and dropping off students with optional audio.
n Tracking of all students with facial recognition to confirm that the student got on or off the correct bus.
n Additional profile information that can be displayed to each driver such as a child’s special medical needs or who is allowed to pick up the child.
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While cellular, GPS and facial recognition technology aren’t new, Mr. Volpe said they haven’t been combined in this fashion previously.
“We’re just pulling all the different technologies together into one package,” he said.
Outside of school buses, Mr. Volpe said the technology has larger applications on public transit in general. If proven to work correctly, Mr. Volpe said the technology could be used to recognize individual’s tagged for security reasons or those with outstanding warrants on trains or buses.
“This is leading edge technology that will combine multiple technologies of video recording, facial recognition, wireless connectivity and GPS tracking into one package,” Mr. Volpe said. “The ultimate goal is the safety of the kids as well as accountability, making sure driver didn’t do anything wrong. There’s a lot of different fringe benefits.”
Such a program, however, is not without ethical implications. Mr. Volpe said he is aware of the ethics involved with such technology, but the immediate and current focus is only on seeing whether or not it works.
“What we’re doing is just testing the technology. We don’t plan on impeding anyone’s privacy or anything else the school department isn’t comfortable doing … We just want to test it,” Mr. Volpe said.
Should the school committee elect for a town bus to become part of the pilot program, Mr. Volpe said, the equipment could be removed at the program’s conclusion. If the school committee liked the results, however, Mr. Volpe said the equipment could either be donated or sold to Seekonk at a “drastically reduced rate.” Seekonk would also receive “extreme discounting” on all future bus systems, if interested, by taking part in the pilot program.
Should the school committee elect to take part, Mr. Volpe said the pilot program would need to run for about two to four weeks to determine if the system works.
On Monday night, the school committee did not take any action on the proposal. Instead, the group decided to forward the matter to it’s legal counsel, Murphy Hesse Toomey and Lehane LLP, to see what ramifications the proposal could have on student confidentiality, or other issues.
Ms. Meyer said the firm was contacted on Tuesday and an answer was expected in a few days. Along with his letter, Ms. Meyer said Mr. Volpe offered to attend a scheduled school committee work session on March 15 to explain the program further.
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