Liberty responds to Government plans for facial recognition legal framework

Akiko Hart, Director at Liberty, said: “If the Government wants to build public trust as it adopts powerful new technologies that impact our daily lives, it must protect our fundamental rights.

“On the use of facial recognition technology, we welcome that the Government has finally committed to a dedicated legal framework for its use – something that Liberty has long been calling for.

“Robust safeguards, oversight, and transparency on the use of facial recognition cameras should have been in place before they were ever introduced to our town centres and high streets.

“The new framework will need to include clear and consistent rules around how the police use facial recognition to ensure the rights of the public are protected at all times. We will also need to see rigorous oversight from the new regulatory body.

“On Digital ID, we have seen repeated flip-flopping from the Government. Today in the King’s Speech the Government announced key details of the legislation before its own consultation process with the public had finished.

“Joining up public services digitally could offer real benefit. However, if this is done by giving every person in the country a single identifying number, as was outlined in the consultation, it would hand the Government huge power over our lives and undermine the principle of a privacy-protecting system.”