General Discussion

Court told police facial recognition needs limits

The Met Police is facing a legal challenge over its use of live facial recognition (LFR) from two campaigners who say the technology is expanding without adequate safeguards.
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Under the proposals, the number of facial recognition vans would be increased from 10 to 50, and be made available nationwide.

Shaun Thompson, a youth worker, was wrongly flagged by LFR, and Silkie Carlo, is the director of privacy campaigning organisation Big Brother Watch.
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He said the Met deployed the technology 231 times in 2025 and scanned about four million faces. On 17 December alone, LFR cameras at Oxford Circus scanned more than 50,000 people in four and a half hours, he said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c07x21jlnndo

'Facial recognition tech mistook me for wanted man'

As he passed a white van, he said police approached him and told him he was a wanted man.

"When I asked what I was wanted for, they said, 'that's what we're here to find out'."

He said officers asked him for his fingerprints, but he refused, and he was let go only after about 30 minutes, after showing them a photo of his passport.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqxg8v74d8jo

At the end of January [2019], the Metropolitan Police held the latest trials of facial recognition technology that is intended to pick out suspects from crowds, using cameras that scan faces to see whether they match images on a database of targets.

A mobile unit was parked outside Romford station on 31 January. Campaigners from Big Brother Watch, who have highlighted how 98% of automated facial recognition ‘matches’ by the Met have actually identified the wrong people, were present and handing out leaflets.

One man, who had pulled his jumper up over the lower part of his face as he walked past the mobile unit, was subsequently stopped by police who claimed he was acting suspiciously. He was issued with a “penalty notice for disorder” — an on-the-spot fine of £90 — after officers alleged he “became aggressive and made threats towards officers.”
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Can I legally cover my face?
The short answer is yes. There are very limited circumstances where the police can insist that you remove a face covering and normally this is in situations where they believe there is a serious risk of violence.

https://netpol.org/2019/02/12/your-rights-during-police-trials-of-facial-recognition-technology/