Britain's Surveillance Spike
What does facial recognition technology mean for privacy?
Facial recognition technology designed to locate perpetrators of serious crime is becoming widely used by law enforcement. However, privacy advocates are warning that the technology is ripe for abuse.
"Facial recognition has no place on our streets", says civil rights advocate Hannah Couchman. "It's feeding in to a wider web of surveillance that the police and the state might use against us, and its mass surveillance on an enormous scale”, says Couchman, wary of misuse. Others don't feel threatened by being watched. "I think it is fine as long as you’ve got nothing to hide", says one member of the public. For the emergency services, facial recognition promises to become a time-saving and life-saving tool. "It enables us to search, scan and monitor images and video...leading to faster and more accurate identification of persons of interest,” says Richard Lewis, of South Wales Police. Are the UK laws changing before proper debate has run its course?
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