Commenting on the Metropolitan Police’s decision to use live facial recognition at tomorrow’s Trooping the Colour in central London, Madeleine Stone, Legal and Policy Officer at Big Brother Watch said:
“Live facial recognition is a dangerously authoritarian mass surveillance tool, that turns innocent members of the public into walking ID cards.
“The Met’s own figures show that 86% of facial recognition flags are inaccurate, meaning this highly intrusive technology is unlikely to have any policing benefits but would have a serious cost to police resources and the public’s privacy rights.
“While Europeans this week have voted to ban facial recognition surveillance, the UK is speeding in the opposite direction towards the likes of Russia and China by rolling out this dangerous AI surveillance.
“The Home Secretary should stop the Met using this Big Brother surveillance on innocent members of the public at Trooping the Colour.”
Notes:
You can find statistics regarding the Metropolitan Police’s live facial recognition deployment record on Big Brother Watch’s website here.
Spokespeople are available for interviews. Contact Big Brother Watch’s 24h media line on 07730439257 or email info@bigbrotherwatch.org.uk