MPs join campaign group’s call for facial recognition ban

Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy MPs and peers from all sides have called for an “immediate stop” to the use of live facial recognition surveillance by police and private companies. The UK should show leadership in adopting new technologies in a rights-respecting way Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch The statement said: “We hold differing views about live facial recognition surveillance, ranging from serious concerns about its incompatibility with human rights, to the potential for discriminatory impact, the lack of safeguards, the lack of an evidence base, an unproven case of necessity or proportionality, the lack of a sufficient legal basis, the lack of parliamentary consideration, and the lack of a democratic mandate. “We call on UK police and private companies to immediately stop using live facial recognition for public surveillance.” The statement comes after Policing Minister Chris Philp announced government plans to make UK passport photos searchable by police with facial recognition technology. “There must be an urgent stop to live facial recognition, parliamentary scrutiny and a much wider democratic debate before we introduce such a privacy-altering technology to British life.” A Home Office spokesperson told the BBC use of the technology has a “robust legal framework” and said: “Facial recognition, including live facial recognition, has a sound legal basis that has been confirmed by the courts and has already enabled a large number of serious criminals to be caught.”