People up and down the country are being forced to prove that they are not criminals as a result of Orwellian live facial recognition.
A young woman had been wrongly flagged by live facial recognition as a shoplifter in a Home Bargains store. Her bag was searched and she was publicly thrown out of the store.
She told BBC Newsnight: “I was just crying and crying the entire journey home … I thought, ‘Oh, will my life be the same? I’m going to be looked at as a shoplifter when I’ve never stolen.’ ”
Facewatch, a private company providing retailers with this intrusive facial recognition software, reportedly admitted that this was a case of mistaken identity.
In another harrowing case, Shaun Thompson, a community worker, was wrongly flagged by facial recognition – this time by the Metropolitan Police.
Privacy and civil liberties group Big Brother Watch had filmed this stop. They have been campaigning for seven years against the expansion of this technology.
The Times – Innocent woman branded a shoplifter by facial recognition software
Mirror – Shopper branded ‘thief’ and told to leave store after facial recognition error