‘Use of biometric facial recognition must be regulated’

PETALING JAYA: The use of biometric facial recognition CCTVs for law enforcement must be regulated and not breach privacy laws, say legal criminal and constitutional experts.

Human rights lawyer Andrew Khoo said there must be checks and balances as unregulated use of biometric-based surveillance technology was a breach of privacy and a violation of the right to life.

“Just as we have introduced laws to promote and regulate the protection of personal data, biometric-based data, even when captured by surveillance technology, should be recognised as yet another form of personal data,” he said yesterday.

Khoo, who is co-chair of the Bar Council Constitutional Law Committee, said the use of such technology required monitoring, safeguards and sanctions for breaches of personal privacy.

“Local authorities should clearly not be permitted the unregulated use of this technology,” he said.

Constitutional lawyer Syahredzan Johan said the use of the CCTVs must be confined only to public spaces for law enforcement purposes and should not intrude into the personal spaces of individuals.

“A static CCTV on a busy street to capture incidents of breach of the law is acceptable but a camera on a drone that can fly over private property would not be,” he said.

He cited China as an example where the CCTVs there were equipped with artificial intelligence to keep tabs on the activities of private individuals.

“These would certainly raise questions of privacy,” he said, adding that the ones used in Penang would be of such nature.

Syahredzan said the CCTV footage itself could not be decisive evidence of an individual’s identity.

“It must still be tested for veracity in court,” he said, adding that caution must be placed on the over-reliance of such footage during trial.

Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) criminologist Dr Geshina Ayu Mat Saat said that while the use of such technology was a good addition to current efforts in crime prevention, it should not be a stand-alone preventive system.

“For example, CCTV by itself won’t deter snatch thieves but a combination of CCTV with crime prevention and police presence would have a more deterrent effect by reducing crime opportunities and chances of criminals getting away with their crimes,” she said.

However, she said biometric facial recognition marking must first be compiled for the system’s database to be effective.

She said periodic updates to the database must also be done as a person’s age or those involved in accidents, would result in changes to their original facial structure.

“Another related issue are people who are not in the database, for example people who are without ICs, passports, or other forms of identification and stateless children,” she added.

She cautioned that people who share common features, either due to family ties or ethnic similarities, could be wrongly identified.

Her colleague Dr P. Sundramoorthy also cautioned that facial recognition technology was not foolproof and police should use discretion when approaching suspected individuals on the street.

The USM criminologist said technology was useful but it could also mislead.

“Police must exercise caution and use their discretion to approach the suspected individuals to ensure they are not embarrassed by the action,” he said.

KUAlA lUmpUR:

Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) does not have facial recognition analytics for its CCTV cameras in the capital, as that would require linking its cameras with a facial recognition software and a database with identification details.

A DBKL spokesman said: “For such a system to work, two things are needed – a CCTV system with facial recognition analytics and a database where a person’s identification is collected and stored, in this case the facial features together with personal details.

“With facial recognition, the analytics can match facial features to their personal details.”

While it is possible for DBKL to add facial recognition analytics into its CCTV system, the spokesman said it does not have an identification database that records and stores people’s facial features.

“Even if such a system exists, tracking, identifying and taking action against criminals and most traffic offenders would come under the police, not DBKL,” he said.

DBKL has an existing Integrated Transport Information System (Itis 2.0), which functions as a traffic surveillance system to manage traffic, collect traffic data as well as manage road incidents such as accidents and vehicle breakdown.

Apart from traffic surveillance cameras, DBKL also provides the police with more than 300 crime surveillance cameras for the police to monitor crime.

Police personnel help man the CCTV live feeds that are linked to all police district headquarters in Kuala Lumpur and also the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters in Jalan Hang Tuah.