Police broke human rights law by using face recognition cameras
POLICE use of facial recognition spy cameras has breached human rights laws, senior judges said.
Court of Appeal judges yesterday backed a civil rights campaigner who brought a legal challenge against South Wales Police.
Ed Bridges, 37, argued that their use of automatic facial recognition (AFR) had caused him ‘distress’.
The technology uses CCTV cameras in public areas to recognise people whose faces have previously been scanned.
Mr Bridges was recognised by the system when he was shopping in Cardiff in 2017 and at a peaceful anti-arms protest in the city a year later.
Judges ruled the use of the technology was unlawful and allowed Mr Bridges’ appeal on three out of five grounds he raised – including under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the ‘right to private and family life’.
Mr Bridges took his case – believed to be the world’s first over police use of such technology – to the Court of Appeal after his action was rejected by the High Court. And judges yesterday said there was no clear guidance on where AFR Locate – the system being trialled by South Wales Police – could be deployed. The ruling said: ‘Too much discretion is currently left to individual police officers.
‘It is not clear who can be placed on the watchlist, nor is it clear that there are any criteria for determining where AFR can be deployed.’ It added that the court was satisfied ‘that policies do not sufficiently set out the terms on which discretionary powers can be exercised by the police so do not have the necessary quality of law’.
After the ruling, Mr Bridges said he was ‘delighted’ the court found that ‘facial recognition clearly threatens our rights’. He added: ‘This technology is an intrusive and discriminatory mass surveillance tool. For three years now South Wales Police has been using it against us, without our consent and often without our knowledge.’
South Wales Police Chief Constable Matt Jukes said: ‘The judgment points to a limited number of policy areas that require... attention.’ He added they are planning how to further improve their system. The force will not appeal the ruling.
Despite warnings from campaigners, Metropolitan Police started using this technology in February this year.
Surveillance Camera Commissioner Tony Porter said he had ‘fruitlessly and repeatedly’ called on the Home Office to update the rules for five years.
He said officials should now act after the court’s decision.
Megan Goulding, a lawyer for civil rights group Liberty who backed the case, said this is a ‘major victory in the fight against discriminatory and oppressive facial recognition’.
‘Intrusive and discriminatory’