Liberty responds to Government announcement of major facial recognition expansion

Responding to the Government’s announcement of major facial recognition expansion, Ruth Ehrlich, Director of External Relations at Liberty said:

“The Government is undermining its own consultation on facial recognition by announcing a major ramp-up of these technologies in today’s policing white paper. Rolling out powerful surveillance tools while a consultation is still underway undermines public trust and shows disregard for our fundamental rights.

AI and facial recognition are powerful technologies that allow the police to track and monitor people as they go about their daily lives. Attempts by police forces to use these tools so far have been plagued by failure.

We have seen what happens when facial recognition technology is rolled out without clear safeguards: children are wrongly placed on watchlists, and Black people are put at greater risk of being wrongly identified. These have created real harm to people’s lives and are the consequence of handing complex, powerful technology to police who lack the expertise to govern it safely.

The Government must halt the rapid rollout of facial recognition technology, ensure safeguards are in place to protect each of us, and prioritise our rights. They must also learn the lessons of the past and ensure that, before handing police further AI tools, a system of strong guardrails is in place and one that puts the rights and privacy of the British public at its core, with genuine transparency and meaningful oversight.”