The use of surveillance technologies, such as facial and biometric recognition, is becoming increasingly common in various sectors of Brazilian society. In the public sector, it has been used for a variety of purposes – public security, urban mobility, identification and even education. With the justification of optimizing the management of the school environment and tackling the problems that structure Brazilian public education, these technologies have spread to schools in different regions of the country.

The application of technologies such as facial recognition, however, is accompanied by challenges and debates about the risks involved, especially with regard to historically marginalized groups. The scenario becomes even more complex when we consider that the target audience for these technologies in schools is mostly children and adolescents. Some questions arise from this context: how and to what extent is facial recognition being adopted in Brazilian schools? Which regions are implementing these strategies? What are the risks involved? What have been the justifications for implementing these technologies?

These are some of the questions that structure the creation of the “EdTech – Surveillance and Education Technologies” project, in partnership with Privacy International, which resulted in the report “Surveillance and education technologies: a mapping of facial recognition policies in Brazilian public schools”, launched in March 2023. The report maps the extent, methods of use and practices adopted in the use of these technologies in different regions of the country, and raises doubts about whether facial recognition would really be an “education technology” capable of solving structural issues in the school environment, highlighting that it is a surveillance technology that has generated concerns globally due to its risks and discriminatory biases.

We are now aiming to disseminate the results of our research and raise awareness about the use of surveillance technologies in public schools for educators, parents, students, civil society organizations and policymakers. We are also developing a new study on the use of predictive technologies by public schools in Brazil.

Methodology

In order to understand how the policies were being developed, fifteen policies were identified for the adoption of facial recognition in schools in all regions and states of the country: in the state of (i) Tocantins; and in the municipalities of (ii) Mata de São João (BA); (iii) Fortaleza (CE); (iv) Jaboatão dos Guararapes (PE); (v) Águas Lindas (GO); (vi) Goiânia (GO); (vii) Morrinhos (GO); (viii) Betim (MG); (ix) Rio de Janeiro (RJ); (x) Angra dos Reis (RJ); (xi) Itanhaém (SP); (xii) Potirendaba (SP); (xiii) Santos (SP); (xiv) Porto Alegre (RS); (xv) Xaxim (SC).

The cases were examined through requests made under the Access to Information Act (LAI), searches conducted on transparency portals, and visits to the official websites of the education departments associated with each case. In addition, semi-structured interviews were carried out with public policy officials responsible for implementing the technologies and with specialists working on issues related to education, digital rights and the protection of children’s and adolescents’ rights. Through the analysis of the cases, we investigated the motivations of public authorities, as well as the primary practices and justifications employed in the implementation of facial recognition and the associated risks.

The case studies also sought to understand how the data collected, stored and used by the facial recognition system is processed.

Publications to date:

EdTech 2023

“Surveillance Technologies and Education: Mapping Facial Recognition Policies in Brazilian Public Schools”  (Portuguese and English versions).