London police begin using live facial recognition tech across the capital

[steven36]

Meanwhile, Europe wants to ban the technology for up to five years.

 

 

London's Metropolitan Police Service has begun using live facial recognition (LFR) technology. At key areas throughout the city, signposted cameras will scan the faces of passing people, alerting officers to potential matches with wanted criminals. According to the Met, "this will help tackle serious crime, including serious violence, gun and knife crime, child sexual exploitation and help protect the vulnerable".

 

In a tweet, the Met assured the public that any images obtained that don't trigger a potential alert are deleted immediately -- and that it's up to officers whether they decide to stop someone based on an alert or not. The technology operates from a standalone system, and isn't linked to any other imaging platforms, such as CCTV or bodycams.

 

Despite the Met's insistence that the technology can be used for good, however, some critics have lambasted LFR as ineffectual and in some cases, unlawful. In April 2019, for example, a report from the University of Essex found that the Met's LFR technology has an inaccuracy rate of 81 percent. The previous year, technology used by police in South Wales mistakenly identified 2,300 innocent people as potential criminals.

 

The Met's new endeavor is launched at a tumultuous time for facial recognition technology. Just last week the European Commission revealed it's considering a ban on the use of LFR in public areas for up to five years, while regulators figure out how to prevent the tech being abused. Meanwhile, privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch -- supported by more than 18 UK politicians and 25 additional campaign groups -- has called for a halt to adoption, citing concerns about implementation without proper scrutiny.

 

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[Guest]

London's police are really inspired by China government's steps on using facial recognition, though facial recognition does have privacy issues, including accuracy and detection AI issues as well.

[steven36]

1 hour ago, Edward Raja said:

London's police are really inspired by China government's steps on using facial recognition,

The UK has been a surveillance state for  many years while  facial recognition is new thing for them the whole country have been wall to wall CCTV  since the 1960s they was the 1st to become a video surveillance state. So the Chinese copy them

 

According to the most recent figures, the United Kingdom has the dubious honour of having the most CCTV cameras per head of any country in the world; the British Security Industry Authority has claimed that there is one camera for every 11-14 people. While these figures are shocking in and of themselves, the fact they are nearly five years old—from a time before the wider proliferation of smartphones, body-worn videos, and drones—suggests that we are living in a golden age of surveillance.

 

CCTV was originally introduced to Britain’s streets as a temporary measure for overseeing crowds at Trafalgar Square during a visit by the Thai Royal Family in 1960. The country’s first permanent surveillance cameras were set up the following year, in order to improve security at London’s bustling railway stations. CCTV was rolled out into other metropolitan areas in 1964, with Liverpool being one beneficiary, though some have argued that the four cameras set up in the city centre were “undoubtedly a PR exercise,” allowing the city’s police force to show off their tech savvy.

 

Full Article :

https://stories.swns.com/news/history-cctv-surveillance-britain-93449/

 

Face Recognition   was used long  before  China  started building there Database in 2017   Face Recognition “Inevitable” for Retail (2017)  gave them this power.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2115094/china-build-giant-facial-recognition-database-identify-any

 

FERET Program (1993-2000s)

The USA started  a database way back in  1993  by the NIST

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FERET_database

 

Social Media (2010-Present)

 

US Law Enforcement Agencies Adopt Mobile Face Recognition (2014)

 

 A Brief History of Face Recognition

https://www.facefirst.com/blog/brief-history-of-face-recognition-software/

 

China just copy  USA  Tech again  but since China have more people it's used on the most widest scale there  but trying to say the UK copy them is not true and misleading if it was not for NIST  i doubt  anywhere  would of had it .