The Information Commissioner’s Office has released a report stating that police use of facial recognition technology may have been unlawful. It has raised concerns that the technology has been used when it has not been ‘strictly necessary’ and called for a regulatory framework to ensure ‘governed, targeted and intelligence-led’ deployment, rather than the current ‘blanket’ use.
Silkie Carlo, Director of Big Brother Watch, said that “[p]olice have been let off the leash, splashing public money around on Orwellian technologies, and regulators trying to clean up the mess is too little too late. This is a society-defining civil liberties issue that requires not just regulators but political leadership.”
The Independent – Police may have used ‘dangerous’ facial recognition unlawfully in UK, watchdog says
ITPro – ICO tells police to curb their use of facial recognition tech