The NSW Department of Education recently faced concerns after it was revealed that biometric data, including facial and voice information, was collected from school students via Microsoft Teams. This data collection occurred over several weeks, starting from mid-March, before the department was made aware of the issue and disabled the feature in early April.
Microsoft had rolled out a new enrolment feature for Teams meetings, allowing users to log in using voice and facial recognition. Despite the feature’s intentions, it was operational in public schools until the department acted after receiving notifications. In response to this controversy, a spokesperson for the NSW Department of Education confirmed that the data has since been removed, emphasising that the department does not collect biometric data from students. They reiterated that any profiles created through this feature were promptly deleted.
The incident has raised serious privacy concerns, prompting shadow education minister Sarah Mitchell to describe it as a significant violation of trust for students and parents alike. She expressed alarm over the lack of clarity regarding how long the data had been stored and its intended use, highlighting that many parents may not even be aware of the situation. Further, she stressed the importance of identifying the students affected so they could be informed without delay.
Mitchell also called for a thorough investigation into the matter, voicing apprehension over who accessed the sensitive data during the time it was collected. As the controversy unfolds, 9news.com.au has reached out to the office of NSW Education Minister Prue Carr for further comment on the situation.