Week In Geek Podcast: Facial recognition enters grade schools and Bird scooters landing in Seattle

It was quite a week for controversial news. First up: Would you let a facial recognition program track your kids at school? One tech dad is making the technology a reality, starting with a pilot program at his children’s elementary school. The goal is to tighten security, but the tech also raises alarming ethical questions.

Plus, scooter sharing company Bird seems to be planning a launch in Seattle, advertising for a number of jobs in the city. That’s despite the fact that city law bans free-floating scooter rentals — something that hasn’t stopped the company from expanding into new markets in the past.

GeekWire also embarked on a unique project to report on homelessness this week with the #SeaHomeless campaign, an annual collaboration between Seattle-based media organizations. In response to questions submitted by readers, we investigated how other cities are combating homelessness and what Seattle might learn from them.

Listen to this episode of the Week In Geek in the player below or subscribe to the GeekWire Podcast in your favorite podcast app to hear every episode.

This week’s stories:

• Bird landing in Seattle? Job postings indicate electric scooter launch, despite city objections
• Dockless bikeshare service Ofo reportedly laying off most of US workforce
• The cities making a dent in homelessness — and what Seattle can learn from them
• Are people flocking to Seattle for our homeless services?
• Safety over privacy? RealNetworks to offer free facial recognition technology to K-12 schools