OREANDA-NEWS. The Moscow City Hall proposes to introduce a face recognition system in the capital's schools by 2022. This was reported on Wednesday, September 8, by the newspaper «Kommersant». The media learned about the plans of the authorities of the capital from the review of the head of the Department of Information Technologies (DIT) of Moscow Eduard Lysenko on the project of the government of the Russian Federation, expanding the collection and processing of biometric data. The changes under discussion will take effect from January 2022.

It is assumed that students and teachers will be allowed to enter educational institutions only after they pass biometric authentication. Moscow officials explain this by the need to «improve the personal safety of students and teaching staff on the territory of educational organizations in the city of Moscow».

DIT has officially confirmed that the mayor's office is studying the possibility of introducing a face recognition system in schools, but it is too early to say that it will be introduced. The department assured that the technology will be used only by the decision of the director, teachers and parents. A source of Kommersant in the city hall explains that the need to introduce biometrics in schools is connected with the mass murder at a gymnasium in Kazan on May 19, 2021.

Biometric data are unique biological and physiological characteristics that allow us to establish a person's identity. Among the most common types of biometrics are fingerprints, face image, voice, iris and palm vein pattern. In Russia, biometrics is protected by the law on personal data: it requires obtaining consent for the processing of such data and applying measures to protect this information.