Responding to news that British Transport Police will begin trialling live facial recognition at select London railway stations Matthew Feeney, Advocacy Manager at Big Brother Watch, said:
“We all want train passengers to travel safely, but subjecting law-abiding passengers to mass biometric surveillance is a disproportionate and disturbing response. Facial recognition technology remains unregulated in the UK and police forces are writing their own facial recognition rules, including those governing how they use the technology and who they place on watchlists. This is an authoritarian technology that can have life-changing consequences when it makes mistakes.
The use of this technology is especially offensive in a democracy where neither the public nor Parliament has ever voted on its use. Sadly, the UK stands out among democracies when it comes to the widespread use of live facial recognition. The Government must take immediate steps to rein in police use of this technology.”
NOTES
- Big Brother Watch is currently supporting an anti-knife crime community worker in a landmark legal challenge against the Metropolitan Police’s use of live facial recognition surveillance after he was wrongly stopped and detained
- Spokespeople are available for interview. Please direct enquiries or requests for interviews to info@bigbrotherwatch.org.uk or 07730439257
- More detail on Big Brother Watch’s work on facial recognition is available on our website – https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/campaigns/stop-facial-recognition/