A group of civil society bodies has called on the government to ban facial recognition cameras, while police and the Interior Ministry are accused of bypassing parliament in guiding the use of the technology.
Thirty-one organizations, including Amnesty International, Liberty and Privacy International, have published an open letter alleging that in violation of court rulings against invasive filming, guidelines have been put in place to allow police, local councils and law enforcement agencies to use facial recognition across England and Wales to use.
The guidelines were released by the College of Policing during recess last week and without notice from them or the government, according to The Daily Telegraph.
The group’s letter said the guidelines came despite an appeals court ruling that the South Wales Police’s use of facial recognition cameras as a pilot prior to a nationwide roll-out violated privacy rights and breached gender law.
“In a democratic society, it is imperative that intrusive technologies be effectively controlled,” the letter reads.
“So far, the police and the Ministry of the Interior have completely bypassed Parliament when it comes to LFRT (Live Face Recognition Technology). We are not aware of any intention of subjecting LFRT plans to parliamentary scrutiny, despite the intrusiveness of this technology, its use, which has been highly controversial for many years, and the associated dangers. “
The group added that it “calls on Parliament and relevant stakeholders to completely stop and ban the use of live facial recognition technology by police and private companies as it poses significant and inevitable risks to our society.
“We do not believe that LFRT can ever be used safely in public spaces and for mass surveillance purposes.”
Interior Minister Priti Patel. The Home Office has been accused of bypassing Parliament over guidelines on the use of LFRT (Aaron Chown / PA).
The letter stated that the use of facial recognition technology “represents a tremendous change in the relationship between the individual and the state”.
“The implications arise not only from the perspective of privacy and data protection, but also from the larger ethical question for a democratic society that allows and apparently tolerates the introduction of such intrusive technologies,” it said.
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“LFRT also poses significant problems for our human rights, such as freedom of expression and assembly.”
The groups said they were concerned that LFRT could be used “at a wide variety of public gatherings” such as sporting events, music concerts and protests, jeopardizing protected rights.
“In addition, the use of this surveillance technology could reflect and exacerbate existing disproportionate police practices against minority communities,” the letter said.
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