A judge in the United Kingdom finds that how the police use facial recognition is against human rights. However, that does not mean that the technology will be banned entirely.

 

The lawsuit was filed in 2019 by Briton Ed Bridges against South Wales Police because police scanned his face in 2017 and 2018 in what he said was a violation of his rights.

Bridges lost his case last year, but the court now agrees with him on appeal.

According to Ars Technica, the court states that how the police use the technology has “fundamental deficiencies” and violates several laws.

Individual agents also have to judge themselves too much.

This is not about the facial recognition software itself, but about who is put on the list to be recognized and on what basis the automatic recognition is used in specific places.

Too little research has also been carried out into whether the software used is disadvantaged for specific races or sexes.