A High Court challenge against the Metropolitan Police’s use of live facial recognition (LFR) technology in London has been dismissed.
Youth worker Shaun Thompson, who was previously misidentified by the system, and Silkie Carlo of campaign group Big Brother Watch, spearheaded the legal action.
They voiced concerns that LFR could be used arbitrarily or in a discriminatory manner across the capital.
Lawyers representing the pair argued in court earlier this year that facial recognition data is “similar to a DNA profile,” warning that proposed permanent installations would render it “impossible” for Londoners to move freely without their biometric data being routinely captured and processed.
Scotland Yard, defending its LFR policy, which is set to commence from September 2024, maintained before the London court that its approach was lawful.
Lord Justice Holgate and Mrs Justice Farbey said in a judgment on Tuesday: “In the context of promoting law and order in a large metropolis, the policy provides the claimants with an adequate indication of the circumstances in which LFR will be used and enables them to foresee, to a degree that is reasonable in the circumstances, the consequences of travelling in an area of London where LFR is in use.”
The judges also said that Mr Thompson and Ms Carlo’s human rights “have not been breached”.
The ruling comes after the Government previously defended plans to expand the use of facial recognition across England and Wales.
Plans set out by the Home Office in January will increase the number of vans from 10 to 50 and make them available to all forces across the two nations.
More to follow…
