OneZero

OneZero is a former publication from Medium about the impact of technology on people and the future. Currently inactive and not taking submissions.

Follow publication

The Rise of Covid-19 Temperature Scanners That Can Also Capture and Store Your Face

Just by walking by it and briefly glancing at the screen, I likely gave the Temp Tablet all it needed to recognize me

Thomas Smith
OneZero
Published in
9 min readMar 10, 2021

--

Photo: Noam Galai/Getty Images

In late February, I went to an office building in San Ramon, California. I used to work there, before the pandemic, and needed to pick up some mail. Due to a standing Covid-19 public health order in the Bay Area, the building’s management had implemented mandatory mask and temperature checks at the entrance, so I expected to be scanned and evaluated.

I didn’t expect that the scan would be performed by a machine—or that consenting to a scan might enter me into a facial recognition database, which could later be used to monitor my health status and track my every movement.

As of late 2020, the building in question had stationed a staff member at the door with a handheld infrared thermometer and a roll of “Check Passed” stickers. After a friendly hello, she’d ensure that each visitor had a properly fitting mask and would issue a free one if they didn’t. She would then take a visitor’s temperature with a simple noncontact thermometer before handing them a sticker and sending them on their way.

On this visit, I was instead greeted by a PAR-P2TEMPTABLET temperature-scanning tablet (or Temp Tablet), made by surveillance company InVidTech. The tablet was on a pedestal near the door. A box of masks and stickers had been placed next to it. A sign instructed me to approach the tablet and perform my own temperature check.

Why would a Covid-19 temperature scanning tablet need high-grade facial recognition capabilities?

The tablet looked like an iPad with a glowing red sensor placed just above the screen. It displayed the rough outline of a human face and a live camera feed of the hallway. A message on the tablet instructed me to step up to it and center…

--

--

OneZero
OneZero

Published in OneZero

OneZero is a former publication from Medium about the impact of technology on people and the future. Currently inactive and not taking submissions.

Thomas Smith
Thomas Smith

Written by Thomas Smith

CEO of Gado Images | Content Consultant | Covers tech, food, AI & photography | http://bayareatelegraph.com & https://aiautomateit.com | tom@gadoimages.com

Responses (2)

Write a response