COMMENT FACIAL RECOGNITION
TECHNOLOGY
A landmark ruling?
THE HIGH COURT HAS RULED IN FAVOUR OF THE SOUTH WALES POLICE
ALLOWING THEM TO CONTINUE USING AUTOMATED FACIAL RECOGNITION.
A GOOD THING, OR A BAD DECISION?
The news that the High Court has ruled in favour of the South Wales Police, in
response to a judicial review brought about by an individual, Ed Bridges, means
that the police service there will be allowed to continue to use Automated
Facial Recognition (AWR) technology.
The hearing is being described as a landmark decision and a ‘victory for technology
innovation’, by Jason Tooley of techUK.
According to Tooley, “South Wales Police has won the world’s rst legal challenge
over the use of facial recognition. The use of biometrics has been proven to greatly
enhance identity veri cation at scale, as seen in many countries where of cers
currently use consumer technology to verify suspects on-demand.”
Police services around the world were said to be watching this court action in order
to determine whether they would use it themselves – its use is not without controversy.
The potential to use biometrics to improve the quality and ef ciency of policing,
while cutting costs, is certainly immense. In fact, the UK Home Of ce is looking to
spend £100million on a biometric technology strategy to combat rising crime.
But while biometrics can drive improved policing there remain real doubts about
the effectiveness of facial recognition technology and, more importantly, as to how to
gain widespread public acceptance.
While the courts ruled in favour of AWR so the property developer at Kings Cross
in London said that the technology would not be deployed at the prestigious London
site in future, after a backlash against its use following the owner’s admission that the
software had been used in its CCTV systems.
The argument about this technology focuses on the ethics of using facial
recognition which has been described by those who oppose it as being authoritarian,
partly because it captures and analyses images of people without their consent.
The situation at Kings Cross served to highlight a lack of transparency about the
technology. Why was it deployed and done so without the public knowing?
According to Tooley the police shouldn’t prematurely focus on one biometric
approach.
“Facial recognition, when used as a stand-alone biometric, can suffer from the
risk of challenge or refusal to accept, with issues such as gender and racial bias, or
scenarios such as poor lighting and wearing accessories impacting on reliability.”
These are serious issues – not easily dismissed.
If this technology is to be accepted people need to understand the value add of
this innovative technology and the bene ts associated with digital policing.
What Kings Cross has highlighted is that in order for this technology to be accepted
not only does it need to mature but, and this is crucial, the use of biometrics must be
both transparent and well understood by the people it is supposed to be protecting.
Neil Tyler, Editor (neil.tyler@markallengroup.com)
“The use of
biometrics has
been proven
to greatly
enhance
identity
verifi cation
at scale, as
seen in many
countries”
Jason Tooley
www.newelectronics.co.uk 10 September 2019 5
/www.newelectronics.co.uk