Home Office has ‘questions to answer’ over facial recognition stance
T
he Home Office has pressing inquiries to reply, campaigners have stated, following reviews that officers agreed to write down to the impartial privateness watchdog concerning the potential advantages of facial recognition expertise in tackling crime in retailers and supermarkets.
The Observer reported on a gathering in March between policing minister Chris Philip, Home Office officers and Facewatch, a agency that describes itself because the UK’s main facial recognition retail safety firm.
Critics and campaigners have raised severe privateness issues about such expertise, which has been deployed by some retailers to assist forestall theft and different crimes.
Minutes of the assembly, obtained by civil liberties campaigners Big Brother Watch by means of a freedom of knowledge request and seen by The Observer, present that as a part of an agreed motion plan officers would “draft a letter to ICO setting out the effects of retail crime”.
The Information Commissioner’s Office is an impartial watchdog for knowledge safety and private info.
The paper reviews that Mr Philp would additionally “consider a speech to bring the benefits of FR [facial recognition] to the fore”.
The junior minister additionally instructed the agency through the assembly “that the ICO are independent and he can’t attempt to change their rulings or opinion”.
Mark Johnson, advocacy supervisor at Big Brother Watch, stated that the small print of the assembly made for “uncomfortable reading”.
“The Home Office must urgently answer questions about this meeting, which appears to have led officials to lean on the ICO in order to favour a firm that sells highly invasive facial recognition technology.
“Live facial recognition is an authoritarian mass surveillance tool that turns the public into walking ID cards,” he stated.
Mr Johnson added: “When used in retail settings, these face-scanning systems work by adding customers to secret watchlists with no due process, meaning people can be blacklisted and denied the opportunity to enter shops despite being entirely innocent.
“This may sound like something from an episode of Black Mirror but it is happening in Britain today.
“Government Ministers should strive to protect human rights, not cosy up to private companies whose products pose serious threats to civil liberties in the UK.”
Mr Johnson stated that the UK ought to comply with the lead of Brussels, which has seen the EU transfer to ban facial recognition expertise in public areas.
The Home Office stated that facial recognition applied sciences might be useful.
A spokeswoman stated: “Shops are at the heart of our communities and it is important that businesses are free to trade without fear of crime or disorder.
“That is why we continue to work closely with retail businesses, security representatives, trade associations and policing to ensure our response to retail crime is as robust as it can be.
“New technologies, like facial recognition, can help businesses to protect their customers, staff and stock by actively managing shoplifting and crime.”