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United Kingdom: in London, facial recognition is used by the police
United Kingdom: in London, facial recognition is used by the police
(France 2)
In the streets of the English capital, Scotland Yard sets up with trucks equipped with cameras. Thanks to facial recognition, the police track down suspects on file.
In London (United Kingdom), white trucks from Scotland Yard, with their cameras, analyze the features of each pedestrian who passes nearby. Passersby are divided by this initiative. Alerted to the operation in progress by posters, some take a detour to avoid the cameras. A man raises an alert: he allegedly violated the rules of his parole. That day, police arrested four people in less than two hours, using facial recognition.
Associations concerned about privacy
The European Parliament wants to ban the use of live facial recognition in public places, but the British police are accelerating its development. This tool has been deployed four times a week in London since January 2024. Some associations are concerned about the impact on privacy and denounce a lack of transparency. Since the start of the year, nearly 100,000 faces have been scanned in the English capital, leading to 300 arrests, including around ten identification errors.
Among Our sources:
Metropolitan Police, register of live facial recognition deployments in London since 2023 (in English)
Big Brother Watch Association
Non-exhaustive list.
