The Metropolitan Police have defied a council vote against the use of live facial recognition (LFR) technology in Finsbury Park to scan the faces of passersby.
Madeleine Stone, Senior Advocacy Manager at privacy rights group Big Brother Watch, said:
“It is incredibly disappointing, undemocratic and it shouldn’t be happening. Unfortunately, because LFR is virtually unregulated in this country, the police have been able to use this in a completely undemocratic way. There has never been a vote [in parliament] on its use, and it is not mentioned in any laws.”
Stone warned that the technology turns people into “walking barcodes”.
“It is incredibly dangerous for such a novel and intrusive new form of surveillance and there are real concerns around discrimination.”
Islington Tribune – Face recognition cams make us ‘walking barcodes’