Big Brother is watching you. No seriously, facial recognition technology is no longer something dreamed up for sci-fi films but our daily reality. Whether you are doing your weekly shop at the supermarket, catching a flight at the airport, or simply unlocking your iPhone, facial recognition technology is at play—without many of us realising it.
With the use of facial recognition technology becoming more and more mainstream—such as being deployed in offices to avoid sign in queues and the complications with introducing it in ‘large-scale quasi or hybrid’ public spaces (for more on this issue see: )—it is sure to be an interesting ride.
Have you ever stopped to think how many times your face has been captured?
As reported by , the UK is ‘the most spied upon county in the world’, with concluding that a Londoner’s image is captured at least 300 times a day by CCTV. Like it or not, this tech has already taken hold and has been integrated into the police force and even in health care.
Plans to develop a public facial recognition database sparked intense controversy recently, and further surfaced detailing that Google was targeting people based on their skin colour. Clearly there are many fears, challenges and barriers to be overcome—many of which we are still unaware of due to the technology's infancy.
in September 2020 we saw a landmark challenge over police use of facial recognition technology to search for people in crowds. In the world’s first legal case of its kind, the High Court found the technology was being used lawfully.
The case follows the Metropolitan Police Service and South Wales Police ‘Live Facial Recognition’ trial which uses this technology to identify wanted criminals.
The trial and the related legal challenges have thrown up many concerns, such as:
In this instance, the found that police use of facial recognition technology in this case was in fact legal. However, although the have stated that there has been clear transparency around their actions, many have still remained concerned about the regulation surrounding the new technology.
In the latest comments from now former Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, she called for the government to introduce a statutory and binding code of practice on the deployment of facial recognition technology—warning that this technology requires urgent government regulation.
Surprisingly, in a recent with Julian Hayes, partner at BCL Solicitors, he highlighted that “at present, there is no dedicated FRT legislation or Code of Practice in the UK”.
Currently, as outlined by Hayes, the legalities of facial recognition technology rely on a question of ‘who is using it and why’ and how this is affected by the , as well as considerations under the following:
The future of Facial Recognition Technology is a hard one to predict. Now that the UK has left the EU, we approach further uncertainty regarding the GDPR’s influence on regulation in facial recognition. This regards the future effects and provisions of the GDPR on facial recognition technology. Though the government aims to incorporate the GDPR compliance into domestic legislation—meaning that GDPR regulation will effectively continue post-Brexit, the current shifts and rate of change in the political sphere leave this eventuality unclear.
It remains to be seen what the government’s actions will be following the Information Commissioner’s suggestions from its investigation. However, with the issue of the first on this matter we are likely to hear a response soon.
The future of facial recognition technology looks to be an interesting one.
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Hannah is one of the Future of Law blog’s digital and technical editors. She graduated from Northumbria University with a degree in History and Politics and previously freelanced for News UK, before working as a senior news editor for UUֱ.
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