‘Stop use of facial scan technology’
AFATHER and former politician has threatened South Wales Police with legal action in a bid to stop the force using facial recognition technology.
Ed Bridges, a former Lib Dem councillor in Cardiff, is calling on South Wales Police to scrap its use of automated facial recognition software.
He says it “violates privacy rights of everyone within range of the cameras, has a chilling effect on peaceful protest, discriminates against women and BAME people, and breaches data protection laws”.
Surveillance cameras scan the faces of people passing the cameras and create unique biometric maps of their faces. These maps are then compared with and matched with other facial images on police databases.
The force was one of the first in the UK to roll out the software when it launched in May 2017 and was first used at the Champions League final.
The force had to defend its use when it later emerged it wrongly identified more than 2,000 people as potential criminals as police patrolled the final.
The technology provided hundreds of “false positives”, wrongly marking out innocent people as possible trouble-makers when an estimated 170,000 people descended on the city for the showpiece match between Real Madrid and Juventus.
The force blamed the high number of false positives at the Champions League final on the “poor quality of images” on the watch list supplied by Uefa, Interpol and other partner agencies, as well as the fact it was the first major use of the technology.
Mr Bridges has teamed up with human rights group Liberty, and says if the force doesn’t stop using the software he will launch legal action.
He has sent a letter to Chief Constable Matt Jukes demanding that police scrap use of the technology in the next two weeks.
Mr Bridges said: “The police are supposed to protect us, and their presence should make us feel safe – but I know first hand how intimidating their use of facial recognition technology is.
“Indiscriminately scanning everyone going about their daily business makes our privacy rights meaningless. The inevitable conclusion is that people will change their behaviour – in short, we’ll be less free.”
It’s understood South Wales Police have used the technology 20 times since its launch and Mr Bridges claims he’s been caught on camera at least twice.
He believes he was scanned as a passer-by in a busy shopping street in Cardiff in the days before Christmas, and again while protesting outside the Cardiff Arms Fair in March 2018.
Mr Bridges continued: “Members of the public scanned by AFR technology have not provided their consent and are often unaware it is in use. It is not authorised by any law and the government has not provided any policies or guidance on it.”
Corey Stoughton, Liberty’s advocacy director, said: Police’s creeping roll-out of facial recognition into our streets and public spaces is a poisonous cocktail – it shows a disregard for democratic scrutiny and a rejection of the public’s fundamental rights to privacy.
“Scanning our faces and comparing them to shady databases with wildly inaccurate results has seriously chilling implications for our freedom.”
A spokesman for South Wales Police said: “South Wales Police has received correspondence relating to automated facial recognition technology, which we will be responding to in due course.
“The force has been very cognisant of concerns surrounding privacy and are confident that our approach is lawful and proportionate.”