Facial recognition support
Have you been incorrectly identified by a facial recognition camera in a shop or wrongly placed on a facial recognition watchlist?
As the use of this technology grows, we’ve heard from an increasing number of people after being wrongly flagged by facial recognition cameras in shops.
This is a step by step guide on what to do next.
FIRST STEP: Submit a ‘Subject Access Request’
If you've been accused of doing something wrong leading to a shop putting you on a facial recognition watchlist, you deserve to know what the accusation and evidence (if any) is. You can do this by submitting a Subject Access Request.
— Why do I need to submit a Subject Access Request?
Frustratingly, often the only way to know what the accusation and evidence (if any) is by exercising your legal right to access the data they hold about you - this is called a 'subject access request' (SAR).
Ask the shop what facial recognition company they are using and how to contact them. The shop using facial recognition, and the company providing the technology (usually Facewatch) are required by law to share with you any information they hold on you. You can email both the shop and the facial recognition company separately to request your information (a SAR) and this is the first step to challenging your inclusion on the facial recognition watchlist.
- Use this template to fill out a SAR to the shop
- Use this template to fill out a SAR to the company providing the facial recognition technology
- Attach a photo of your ID and a photo of your face to the email.
— Why do I need to attach my ID as a part of my Subject Access Request?
By law, the companies must be certain you really are who you say you are before they release your data to you. Regrettably, this means you have to share more of your personal data. You can attach a photo of your ID (e.g. driving license or passport) and a photo of your face to your email to them, in order to prove you are the person you’re requesting information about. If you don’t do this, the companies will likely email you asking you do this, causing delays. You can remind them in your email to securely delete your ID as soon as your SAR is processed
- Email the SARs to the data protection departments at the shop and the company provider (usually Facewatch). You can find some of these email addresses on the templates.
Both the shop and the facial recognition company should send you any information they hold about you, including a report of any alleged criminal activity.
If a mistake has been made, you can respond to the companies to explain the issue. We recommend you get in touch with the companies by email so that there is a record of the correspondence.
The companies must reply to you within one month with a copy of all the personal data they hold about you. You can then exercise your right to have your data corrected - if there are mistakes or false accusations, tell the companies - they must correct this.
SECOND STEP: Complain to the data regulator
If you are able, we would strongly urge you to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
The ‘ICO’ is responsible for investigating retailers' use of live facial recognition and they urgently need to know that this technology is getting it wrong.
- Complaint template
- Send to: icocasework@ico.org.uk
Use our complaint template to fill out your details and send it to this email address (icocasework@ico.org.uk), along with copies of any emails between you, the shop and the facial recognition company.
You can also fill out a complaint form on the ICO’s website.
THIRD STEP: Write to your MP
You may want to reach out to your local MP to tell them about what has happened to you and to ask them to advocate on your behalf.
If you're not sure who your MP is, you can find out here.
You could ask them to write to the shops using this technology or to the Home Office to share your concerns about what has happened to you.
Contact us
We keep a note of cases where people have been adversely affected by live facial recognition technology in shops. This helps us understand the scale of the issue and talk about the kinds of problems emerging (whilst preserving your anonymity) to the companies, politicians and the press.
We might contact you in the future if we think we can help, or to see if you want to speak to a journalist (even anonymously) about what happened.
Share your experience
If you are not able to use this form, please email your experience to frtcases@bigbrotherwatch.org.uk