Sian Berry MP
Sian Berry MP
News

MPs must put controls on intrusive facial recognition

Reacting to the launch today of the Government’s consultation on expanding facial recognition uses by police and private companies, Sian Berry, who is the Green MP spokesperson for Crime and Policing, said: 

“Artificial intelligence surveillance carries profound risks to human rights, and the Government is being completely reckless about the risk of its hardline policies – including mandatory digital ID and scrapping juries – creating a toolkit for authoritarians like the racist far right to cause terrible harm in future.  

“The EU has already put strong controls on the use of highly sensitive biometric data for surveillance. The legal wild west we have seen in the UK does need to end, and the Government’s proposals will need legislation to be passed by Parliament. 

“This is now a last chance for the public and MPs who care about civil liberties to have a proper say, reject the idea of total state surveillance, and put proper controls on this intrusive technology.  

“After serious deliberation and debate, the European Parliament has put in place controls that reserve this technology only for serious crimes and emergencies, in order to fit in with existing rights and laws on privacy and data protection.[1]  

“This should happen here too. The Labour Government has pushed for many bad ideas it has had to abandon already, and this is one of the worst and most abandonable of all.” 

ENDS 
 

Notes: