4 ms·

So instead of fixing the problem that pupils have to pay at all, they come up with this nonsense?

volta83 5y ago
What nonsense? Before, children only had to pay for food. If they don't or can't pay, we starve them, that'll teach them. But now, they also have to pay for this system, and its potential life long consequences. Like, suppose we offer it to the cheapest contractor, which delivers a crappy insecure system. So somebody "hacks" it and leaks videos of children eating (just because it uploaded all footage to facebook and shared it does not meant we wanted anyone to watch it!). This allows insurance companies to analyze the data and either charge premiums or just deny health insurance to these children as they become adults because "You had too much sugar as a kid Tommy, here, look, this is footage of you eating 30 years ago!". So you see, this system is genius and the possibilities are endless. Why can't you get it? --- In case it isn't clear, this is sarcasm, and I hope that whoever decided that filming children during lunch using facial recognition, and everyone who approved it, to be able to charge children for food, get fired and shamed for life.
- desas 5y ago
  The school is in the UK, and Scotland at that - barely anyone has health insurance. The system uses face recognition for interactions at the till, when paying for food, the likelihood of it filming usable footage of the dining hall that will be kept until leaked is pretty low. A more likely threat model is that rather than video analysis, the system records Tommy bought five doughnuts each day and that database get leaked/sold.
- dekken_ 5y ago
  if accountability were a thing, this wouldn't have gotten passed the first meeting
- petre 5y ago
  Aren't they minors? Can you run facial recognition on minor without their parents' consent? It should be illegal. Somehow the whole thing reminded me of this: https://youtu.be/Sv5iEK-IEzw https://youtu.be/Sv5iEK-IEzw Kids dressed as stormtroopers eating at the canteen with their helmets on.
LaundroMat 5y ago
I often wondered about things like this: how much does the installing, maintainting and controlling a payment process (including but not limited to technology) contribute to the overall cost of a service? And would making that service free reduce its cost so much that for instance a free lunch would actually cost less than a cheap lunch to the provider of that lunch?
- soco 5y ago
  For some, technology works like magic - you throw it at a problem and lo it's solved! And you'll find enough shady IT providers to sell you such powerpoint-based magic, be it AI or crypto or or or.
DrBazza 5y ago
We had to pay for school meals in the 70s and 80s. In fact my school had closer to 1500 pupils, and we managed to get served, pay, eat, and play football in our lunch hour. I wonder what new problems there are in 2021 that it takes "25 minutes" (according to the article) to serve all the kids.

What nonsense? Before, children only had to pay for food. If they don't or can't pay, we starve them, that'll teach them. But now, they also have to pay for this system, and its potential life long consequences. Like, suppose we offer it to the cheapest contractor, which delivers a crappy insecure system. So somebody "hacks" it and leaks videos of children eating (just because it uploaded all footage to facebook and shared it does not meant we wanted anyone to watch it!). This allows insurance companies to analyze the data and either charge premiums or just deny health insurance to these children as they become adults because "You had too much sugar as a kid Tommy, here, look, this is footage of you eating 30 years ago!". So you see, this system is genius and the possibilities are endless. Why can't you get it? --- In case it isn't clear, this is sarcasm, and I hope that whoever decided that filming children during lunch using facial recognition, and everyone who approved it, to be able to charge children for food, get fired and shamed for life.

desas 5y ago
The school is in the UK, and Scotland at that - barely anyone has health insurance. The system uses face recognition for interactions at the till, when paying for food, the likelihood of it filming usable footage of the dining hall that will be kept until leaked is pretty low. A more likely threat model is that rather than video analysis, the system records Tommy bought five doughnuts each day and that database get leaked/sold.
dekken_ 5y ago
if accountability were a thing, this wouldn't have gotten passed the first meeting
petre 5y ago
Aren't they minors? Can you run facial recognition on minor without their parents' consent? It should be illegal. Somehow the whole thing reminded me of this: https://youtu.be/Sv5iEK-IEzw https://youtu.be/Sv5iEK-IEzw Kids dressed as stormtroopers eating at the canteen with their helmets on.

LaundroMat 5y ago

I often wondered about things like this: how much does the installing, maintainting and controlling a payment process (including but not limited to technology) contribute to the overall cost of a service? And would making that service free reduce its cost so much that for instance a free lunch would actually cost less than a cheap lunch to the provider of that lunch?

soco 5y ago
For some, technology works like magic - you throw it at a problem and lo it's solved! And you'll find enough shady IT providers to sell you such powerpoint-based magic, be it AI or crypto or or or.

DrBazza 5y ago

We had to pay for school meals in the 70s and 80s. In fact my school had closer to 1500 pupils, and we managed to get served, pay, eat, and play football in our lunch hour. I wonder what new problems there are in 2021 that it takes "25 minutes" (according to the article) to serve all the kids.