'Highly intrusive' facial recognition trials should be suspended, urge MPs

MPs question legal basis for facial recognition trials conducted by police forces

The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee has urged the government to suspend what it has described as "highly intrusive" trials on facial recognition technology.

In a report published this week, the Committee warned about a lack of regulation over the use of facial recognition by police forces, which has been trialled by South Wales Police and the Metropolitan Police in London.

The report questions the legal basis for those trials, adding that "no further trials should take place until a legislative framework has been introduced and guidance on trial protocols, and an oversight and evaluation system, has been established".

No further trials should take place until a legislative framework has been introduced

It continues: "The UK government should learn from the Scottish government's approach to biometrics and commission an independent review of options for the use and retention of biometric data that is not currently covered by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.

"This process should culminate in legislation being brought forward that seeks to govern current and future biometric technologies."

The report also warned that police were failing to edit a database of custody images to remove pictures of unconvicted individuals, noting that forces have failed to make good on a promise to introduce IT systems that would have facilitated automatic deletion.

"Such improvements now appear to have been delayed indefinitely", the MPs claim. "As such, the burden remains on individuals to know that they have the right to request deletion of their image."

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) recent raised similar concerns, warning that "there are potentially thousands of custody images being held with no clear basis in law or justification for the ongoing retention."

The release of the scathing report comes just days after Home Secretary Sajid Javid gave his backing to Met Police trials, arguing that it was important that police made use of the technology to help them solve crimes.