Biometric data was collected from school students using Microsoft Teams for weeks before the NSW Department of Education became aware of the issue.
Microsoft began enabling a new feature that allowed voice and facial data enrollment for users entering Teams meetings from mid-March.
The feature was enabled in public schools across the state until the education department was alerted and switched off the feature in early April.
Shadow education minister Sarah Mitchell said the situation was a “complete breach of privacy and trust for every student and parent” across the state.
“Not only do we not know how long the data was held, but we also have not been told what the data was used for while it existed,” she said.
A NSW Department of Education spokesperson said the collected data has been removed.
“The Department of Education does not collect student biometric data,” a NSW Department of Education spokesperson said.
“A new Microsoft Teams feature that allowed voice and facial enrolment for people entering Teams meetings was quickly disabled across our network, and any face or voice recognition profiles that were created have been removed.”
“What’s even more concerning is the fact that it appears there are parents out there who are not even aware this occurred — and that is simply not good enough.
“We need to know exactly how many students have been caught up in this and who they are so they can be notified immediately.”
Education Minister Prue Carr has requested a “full briefing” of the incident from the education department.
“We want to assure parents and students that the function is now disabled and that no biometric data was held by the Department,” a spokesperson for Carr said.
Microsoft assured students and parents that no one has access to the biometric data.
“No one, including Microsoft, has access to individual users’ biometric data — it’s encrypted and stored securely per our compliance and privacy standards,” a Mircosoft spokesperson said.
