Critics Denounce Growth of Police Use of Facial Recognition Technology in United Kingdom
The Home Office has announced the deployment of 10 new live facial recognition (LFR) vans to seven forces across the country, as the use of this controversial technology continues to expand. The forces receiving the new LFR vans include Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, Bedfordshire, Surrey and Sussex (jointly), Thames Valley and Hampshire (jointly), and London's Metropolitan Police, who have already been using the technology.
The Met Police made 580 arrests using LFR in a 12-month period, for offenses including rape, domestic abuse, knife crime, grievous bodily harm (GBH), and robbery. This includes 52 registered sex offenders arrested for breaching their conditions. Faces from a live feed will only be checked against police watchlists of "wanted criminals, suspects, and those subject to bail or court order conditions."
However, the use of LFR is not without controversy. Privacy International claims that the government has secretly allowed police forces to search over 150 million UK passport and immigration database photos using FRT for the past six years. This allegation has not been explicitly confirmed by the named organization in the available search results.
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has issued a statement reminding police forces that facial recognition technology (FRT) must comply with data protection law. The ICO will soon share the findings of a recent audit of South Wales Police and Gwent Police use of FRT, revealing compliance with data protection laws.
The algorithm used in LFR has been independently tested by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and found to have no bias for ethnicity, age, or gender. However, concerns about the technology's impact on privacy and civil liberties persist. Nuno Guerreiro de Sousa, a senior technologist at Privacy International, argues that this secret program is a dangerous infringement on fundamental rights to privacy and free expression.
The National Police Chiefs Council lead for facial recognition, Lindsey Chiswick, argued that the increased access to LFR vehicles to forces that previously did not have the capability is an excellent opportunity for policing. However, the A House of Lords committee expressed deep concern about the expansion of LFR without proper scrutiny and accountability last year.
The government plans to launch a consultation in the autumn to help shape a "new legal framework" for LFR. The use of LFR must follow College of Policing guidelines and comply with the surveillance camera code of practice. Officers deployed to operate LFR vans must be trained, and any use of FRT must be lawful, fair, and proportionate, as stated by the ICO.
In response to these developments, Big Brother Watch and Privacy International have taken legal action against the UK government, adding to the ongoing debate about the balance between security and privacy in the use of facial recognition technology.
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