Studies reveal increasing police use of facial recognition, calls for biometrics law

A joint investigation conducted by The Guardian and Liberty Investigates reveals the rapid integration of facial recognition technology into British law enforcement. Internal documents uncovered during the investigation suggest that police anticipate the technology will become "commonplace" across England and Wales. 

The investigation highlights a doubling in the number of facial scans to nearly 5 million over the last year, underscoring how quickly its adoption has become a fundamental tool. Alongside substantial funding availability for live facial recognition (LFR) deployments, the government is reportedly seeking to facilitate broader access for police forces to various image databases, including passport and immigration records, for retrospective facial recognition searches. As a recent funding document suggests, LFR "could become commonplace in our city centres and transport hubs." 

The news comes as The Guardian reports that critics are warning against a dystopian future of live facial recognition cameras across the UK.

Elsewhere, Computer Weekly reveals that an equality impact assessment of live facial recognition deployments by Essex Police is littered with "inconsistencies and poor methodology, undermining the force's claim that its use of the technology will not be discriminatory." 

Meanwhile, a new report by the Ada Lovelace Institute has issued a stark warning about significant gaps and fragmentation across biometrics governance in the UK. 

The report underpins calls from the data protection community for the UK government to urgently legislate and regulate the widespread use of facial recognition technology by both police forces and the private sector. Furthermore, the authors urge the Labour government to provide "clarity on the limits, lawfulness and proportionality of biometric systems" and to establish a new regulator to enforce stricter rules. 

The report's findings support the argument that the current absence of clear regulations for live face scanning systems, which can instantly match images to databases, has created a "wild west" environment in the UK. The situation is further complicated by new developments in artificial intelligence (AI) that threaten to make the technology even more powerful, affordable, and pervasive.