San Francisco is first US city to ban police use of facial recognition tech

[garbon]

Well Ed Bridge's attempt is over...

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/sep/04/police-use-of-facial-recognition-is-legal-cardiff-high-court-rules

Police use of facial recognition is legal, Cardiff high court rules

Police use of automatic facial recognition technology to search for people in crowds is lawful, the high court in Cardiff has ruled.

Although the mass surveillance system interferes with the privacy rights of those scanned by security cameras, two judges have concluded, it is not illegal.

The legal challenge was brought by Ed Bridges, a former Liberal Democrat councillor from Cardiff, who noticed the cameras when he went out to buy a lunchtime sandwich. He was supported by the human rights organisation Liberty. He plans to appeal against the judgment.

Bridges said he was distressed by police use of the technology, which he believes captured his image while out shopping and later at a peaceful protest against the arms trade.

During the three-day hearing in May, his lawyers alleged the surveillance operation breached data protection and equality laws.

The judges found that although automated facial recognition (AFR) amounted to interference with privacy rights, there was a lawful basis for it and the legal framework used by the police was proportionate.

Dismissing the challenge, Lord Justice Haddon-Cave, sitting with Mr Justice Swift, said: "We are satisfied both that the current legal regime is adequate to ensure appropriate and non-arbitrary use of AFR Locate, and that South Wales police's use to date of AFR Locate has been consistent with the requirements of the Human Rights Act and the data protection legislation."

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