UK: Successful Legal Challenge Against Police Use of Facial Recognition Technology

Human rights group Liberty has won a ground-breaking legal challenge in the UK against police use of facial recognition technology. In a judgement handed down today Tuesday 11th August 2020, the Court of Appeal agreed with Liberty’s submissions, on behalf of Cardiff resident Ed Bridges, 37, and found South Wales Police’s use of facial recognition technology breaches privacy rights, data protection laws and equality laws. The judgement means the police force leading the use of facial recognition on UK streets must halt its long-running trial. The court held that there were “fundamental deficiencies” in the legal framework and that Ed Bridges’ rights were breached as a result. The ruling also states: “The fact remains, however, that SWP have never sought to satisfy themselves, either directly or by way of independent verification, that the software program in this case does not have an unacceptable bias on grounds of race or sex.”

Mr Bridges said: “I’m delighted that the court has agreed that facial recognition clearly threatens our rights. This technology is an intrusive and discriminatory mass surveillance tool. For three years now South Wales Police has been using it against hundreds of thousands of us, without our consent and often without our knowledge. We should all be able to use our public spaces without being subjected to oppressive surveillance.” Liberty lawyer Megan Goulding said: “This judgement is a major victory in the fight against discriminatory and oppressive facial recognition. The court has agreed that this dystopian surveillance tool violates our rights and threatens our liberties. Facial recognition discriminates against people of colour, and it is absolutely right that the court found that South Wales Police had failed in their duty to investigate and avoid discrimination. It is time for the government to recognise the serious dangers of this intrusive technology. Facial recognition is a threat to our freedom – it needs to be banned.”