In 2023 the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) launched an investigation into Facewatch, a company which provides live facial recognition technology (FRT) to the retail sector. Facewatch’s system scans people’s faces in real time as they enter a store and alerts if a “subject of interest” has entered. It is used in numerous stores in the UK, including Budgens, Sports Direct and Costcutter, to identify shoplifters.
The ICO concluded its investigation by giving Facewatch the go ahead, even though in its letter (closing the investigation) it highlighted a number of breaches. Stephen Bonner, Deputy Commissioner for Regulatory Supervision, wrote in a blog post:
“Based on the information provided by Facewatch about improvements already made and the ongoing improvements it is making, we are satisfied the company has a legitimate purpose for using people’s information for the detection and prevention of crime. We’ve therefore concluded that no further regulatory action is required.”
But FRT may have an accuracy issue. This weekend the BBC reported on a number of cases where FRT had misidentified people. “Sara” was wrongly accused of being a shoplifter after being flagged by the Facewatch system. She says after her bag was searched she was led out of the shop, and told she was banned from all stores using the technology.
The police are also increasingly using FRT it at live events as well as on the streets. Again not without problems. Civil liberty groups, such as Big Brother Watch, are worried that the accuracy of FRT is yet to be fully established. In February Shaun Thompson was approached at London Bridge by police using FRT and told he was a wanted man. He was held for 20 minutes and his fingerprints were taken. He says he was released only after handing over a copy of his passport. It was a case of mistaken identity. Big Brother Watch have launched a campaign, including taking legal action, to stop the use of FRT .
The ICO’s has also expressed concerns about the use of FRT in the employment context as well as in schools. On 23rd February 2024, it issued Enforcement Notices to public service provider Serco Leisure, Serco Jersey and seven associated community leisure trusts under the UK GDPR. The notices required the organisations to stop using facial recognition technology (FRT) and fingerprint scanning to monitor employee attendance. The ICO’s investigation found that Serco Leisure and the trusts had been unlawfully processing the biometric data of more than 2,000 employees at 38 leisure facilities for the purpose of attendance checks and subsequent payment for their time.
The ICO issued a letter, in January 2023, to North Ayrshire Council (NAC) following their use of FRT to manage ‘cashless catering’ in school canteens. The Financial Times reported that, “nine schools in North Ayrshire will start taking payments for school lunches by scanning the faces of pupils, claiming that the new system speeds up queues and is more Covid-secure than the card payments and fingerprint scanners they used previously.”
In 2019 the ICO published an Opinion on law enforcement use of LFR (Live Facial Recognition) This was followed in 2021 with an Opinion on the use of LFR in public places, setting out key requirements for those considering using this technology.
Our forthcoming CCTV workshop is ideal for those who want to explore the GDPR and privacy issues around all types of CCTV cameras including those using FRT.
