UK Rollout of Facial-Recognition Vans Raises Privacy Concerns
The U.K. Home Office is rolling out 10 Live Facial Recognition (LFR) vans across the country to help catch high-harm criminals, it announced Wednesday. The move brought howls from a civil liberties group and a response from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
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The vans will be used by seven police forces, the Home Office said. Several forces are already using LFR technology, it said. The vans will "operate according to strict rules" that ensure they're deployed in response to "specific intelligence" only, the government said. "Existing safeguards require checks only to be done against police watchlists of wanted criminals, suspects and those subject to bail or court order conditions like sex offenders."
Alongside the rollout of the 10 vans, the government will "consult on how the technology should be used and what appropriate safeguards and oversight are needed to ensure transparency and public confidence," in turn helping shape a revised legal framework for LFR use. The facial recognition algorithm in the vans was "independently tested" for bias by the National Physical Laboratory and found to be accurate, the government added.
Despite the huge expansion in LFR capabilities across Britain, lawmakers have "never voted to authorise the use of such intrusive surveillance technologies," Big Brother Watch said Wednesday. Instead, it said, police rely on a patchwork of laws to justify its use, "with forces left to set their own policies about when and where live facial recognition can be used."
"Facial Recognition Technology does not operate in a legal vacuum," the U.K. Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) countered in a statement Wednesday.
The technology is covered by "data protection law, which requires the use of personal data, including biometrics, to be lawful, fair and proportionate. When used by the police, it must be deployed in a way that respects people's rights, with appropriate safeguards in place," noted the watchdog: Facial recognition technology is "a priority for the ICO due to its potential benefits and risks."