The Spanish Agency for Data Protection (AEPD) has reached a clear conclusion about the use of biometric systems with artificial intelligence in online university evaluation. There is no possibility that they can be used legally, at least without a specific enabling law.
The trigger. The AEPD has presented A complaint against the International University of Valencia. The VIU had been using a system that combined use of artificial intelligence tools with double camera recording (which the student must contribute) to monitor online tests.
It is a practice that It has been doing for more than three yearsand that the agency has sanctioned rejecting the legitimacy of this data processing.
Viu is not alone. The International University of Valencia is not an isolated case. Some of the most prestigious in Spain, such as University of BurgosUniversity Isabel I, European University, or the University of La Rioja have been implementing this system for years.
It is a solution to the growing demand for 100% online training, with tools that allow the student to monitor without the need for the exams in person. The main objective, according to universities, is to avoid fraud and impersonations of identity during evaluations.
The culprit. Smowl, this is the name of The online exam supervision tool. This solution, designed for both business and academic use, allows monitoring with webcam, extra camera, browser block, eyelashes control and, ultimately, replaces human role in exam supervision.
In the case of the UIV, it was guaranteed that these data were pseudo and eliminated “quickly”, although it recognized that the processing of these data meant “a very high impact risk for the rights and freedoms of the affected people”
The universities are covered in which it is the student who gives their consent to the use of these tools by accepting the general conditions of the course in which it has enrolled. The AEPD has another opinion.
There is no legislation that covers its use. Universities are shielding that it is the student who gives their consent to the use of these tools by accepting the general conditions of the course in which it has enrolled. The AEPD has another opinion.
“The consent cannot be considered valid because there was no real and effective alternative to students as the software used is the only method allowed to perform online exams. Their rejection by students involved losing their right to evaluation. Nor is the mandatory acceptance of general conditions to enroll when enrolled.”
These data are of special category and are regulated by Article 9 of the General Data Protection Regulation (RGPD) Since 2022. According to the agency, there is currently no legitic exception in said article or a specific legal framework that enables these practices. It is also rejected that students can give consent, having no alternative available.
But it doesn’t close the door. Data protection does not close the door completely to these types of systems. Specifies that it is necessary to develop specific regulations to determine “in what cases, conditions and under what guarantees this biometric treatment can be carried out”. “
Currently, without frame in which to protect yourself, the use of these tools will be subject to sanction for breach of the GDPR. A deep modification of the regulation would not be necessary, it would suffice with an exception that specifically reflect these scenarios of use.
Facial recognition in Spain. It is not the first time that Spain calls into question the use of this type of systems. The OBERTA UNIVERSIDAD DE CATALUÑA was sanctioned In 2022 with 20,000 for using facial recognition in their exams.
Outside the educational field, one of the most popular cases was that of Mercadona, fined 2.5 million euros for a pilot project in which they tested a facial verification system in their supermarkets. At a lower level, local companies have also faced large fines for breaching the regulations of the GDPR in the workday registry through biometry.
Despite this, it is a technology used in video surveillance systems, Like Renfeor that of Madrid in its streets with hundreds of cameras with AI to reinforce the security of the capital.
Images | Pexels (Andrea Piacquadio), Unspash (Dom Fou)
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