#Russia rolls out new ‘Orwell’ facial recognition tracker for school kids

In a move straight out of a Cold War spy flick, Russia plans to keep tabs on the nation’s schoolchildren with a facial recognition system none-too-subtly named “Orwell.” The state-sponsored tracker, which shares its name with “1984” author George Orwell, comes on the heels of Moscow deploying the controversial software to enforce its coronavirus quarantine.

The Skynet-evoking surveillance system, developed by the tech firm Rusnano, will reportedly keep students safe by monitoring their movements and identifying interlopers on school property, the Moscow Times reports. Targets are identified via video and thermal imaging systems based on algorithms devised by security design firm Elvees NeoTek.

And if that weren’t dystopian enough, “Orwell” could be used in the future to catch kids playing hooky, and even track teachers’ working hours, according to local news outlet Vedomosti. However, Elvees representatives assure the public that the school databases will be stored locally to prevent leaks and that they won’t add parents and students to the network without their permission.

So far, the “cute and totally not sinister” facial recognition system has been deployed at 1,608 schools with eventual plans to expand to 43,000, the Next Web reports.

This isn’t the only time the Big Brother-esque tech has made headlines recently. Earlier this month, US e-bazaar Amazon prohibited police from employing its face-tracking software for a year after facing pressure amid the upheaval over the death of George Floyd in police custody.