A study prepared for the Parliamentary Protective Service indicates that using facial recognition technology as a security tool on Parliament Hill would pose significant legal, privacy and human rights risks — and might even be illegal.
She warns that the technology could be used to monitor, track and identify or misidentify a person. It could also lead to decisions that would lead to arrests, interrogations, detentions or arbitrary bans on entering the parliamentary precinct.
The findings come as many worry about the safety of politicians and those participating in the public arena. Recently, MPs and journalists — especially women and people of color — have been subjected to insults and threats.
The report was completed in April by the Leadership Lab at Metropolitan University of Toronto, at the request of the Parliamentary Protective Service, which funded the research.
The information was gathered through interviews with members of protective services as well as lawyers, academics and people who specialize in facial recognition.
The Parliamentary Protective Service says it does not use — and has no plans to introduce — facial recognition technology, but adds it needs to know more about “threats and emerging and evolving technologies” to ensure security in the parliamentary precinct.
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