#FacialRecognition in public spaces turns us all into walking barcodes.
EDRi along with Big Brother Watch & 177 civil society groups & experts from around the world to say:
🚫Stop Facial Recognition surveillance now🚫
Read full statement(PDF download) ⤵️
In Europe, the EDRi-led Reclaim Your Face campaign – a civil society movement supported by over 250,000 people across the continent – has demanded a ban on all biometric mass surveillance practices since 2020. Lawmakers in the European Parliament heard our call and in summer 2023, adopted a position which would ban the majority of such practices.
However, EU governments are pushing back in the final negotiations on the AI Act, claiming – without evidence – that we need these systems for safety and security. To the contrary, we are here to remind them that when our every moves are tracked and analysed without due cause, none of us are safer.
This letter remains open for additional individual and organisation signatures. Add your signature here.
Research by Big Brother Watch, one of the groups that co-ordinated the international statement, found that over 89% of UK police facial recognition alerts to date have wrongly identified members of the public as people of interest
The UK’s Information Commissioner recently found that facial recognition firm Facewatch, whose software is used by retailers across the UK including Southern Co-op supermarkets, had breached a string of privacy rules
i have posted about FaceWatch before
In UK these facial recognition vans were deployed and if you were seen covering up your face on approach you got finned £90
And this was during the trail phase of facial recognition vans on UK streets back in 2018