The United Kingdom’s information commissioner is of the opinion that there needs to be an established code of practice for governing of the use of facial recognition technology by the police forces.

This comment was made in reference to a complaint filed by a shopper that when he was photographed by the South Wales Police, his human rights were breached. It was found that the police had acted lawfully.

However “serious concerns” over use of the face recognition technology were raised after an investigation was done by UK’s information commissioner Elizabeth Denham.

The government was urged by Denham to formulate and implement a statutory code of practice for the use of the technology.

The debate over the lawful use of facial recognition technology started in the UK following a legal challenge being brought by Ed Bridges after he was photographed shopping in Cardiff in 2017 and again next year while he participated in a peaceful protest against the arms trade.

In reference to the legal challenge, in September, the South Wales Police was found by the High Court to have followed the rules in that case. However, the civil rights group Liberty alleged that the action by the police was similar to the unregulated use of taking of DNA or fingerprints without consent. The group is now campaigning demanding a complete ban on the practice.

A “step change” in policing techniques is represented by the use of facial recognition tools, Denham said.

“Never before have we seen technologies with the potential for such widespread invasiveness,” she said in a blog post. “The results of that investigation raise serious concerns about the use of a technology that relies on huge amounts of sensitive personal information.”

The risks and threats presented by the use of the facial recognition technology cannot be completely and truly managed by the currently applicable laws, practices and guidelines, Denham said in the blog post.

The likelihood of legal failures is increased by the absence of a statutory code to govern the use of the technology, found the investigation into the issue done by Denham. These threats and shortcomings also undermine the confidence of the general population on the appropriate use of the technology, she believes.

The issue of creating a code of practice to govern the use of facial recognition technology will now be taken up by Denham and she will not try and bring up the issue with the UK Home Office, the Investigatory Powers Commissioner, the Biometrics Commissioner, the Surveillance Camera Commissioner and policing bodies.

(Adapted from BBC.com)

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