Facial recognition begins creeping roll-out across London with installation on Kings Cross estate and Canary Wharf set to follow

Question marks over GDPR opt-outs for facial recognition surveillance systems springing up across London

Despite calls to suspend police facial recognition trials, the technology is being rolled out across the Kings Cross estate in London, where Google is planning a major campus.

And Canary Wharf Group, whose 39-hectare estate hosts major global financial institutions, such as Barclays and Citigroup, is set to follow suit.

Furthermore, the surveillance cameras installed across the Kings Cross estate are also used for tracking. "These cameras use a number of detection and tracking methods, including facial recognition, but also have sophisticated systems in place to protect the privacy of the general public," a spokesman claimed to the Financial Times.

However, the developers of the Kings Cross estate did not reveal how many facial recognition cameras they have or details about the "sophisticated systems" that are supposed to protect the privacy of the public.

Canary Wharf group, according to the Financial Times, is also planning to add facial recognition technology to some or all of its 1,750 or so surveillance cameras that already operate around the financial district. It is currently in talks with suppliers for a pilot project in advance of a potential roll-out.

The FT reports ‘sources close to the company' claiming that the facial recognition system at Canary Wharf would be "limited to specific purposes or threats" and would not target pedestrians and office workers. In addition to CCTV surveillance, Canary Wharf also operates automatic vehicle licence plate recognition on the roads that traverse the estate - automatically notifying police of any vehicles on watch-lists.

However, the news has raised questions over whether such systems are compliant with GDPR.

Collecting personal data - which (not surprisingly) includes faces - requires explicit consent, potentially putting such schemes at odds with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). Under GDPR, biometrics is covered by stricter safeguards than ordinary data, according to Osborne Clarke partner Tamara Quinn.

The ICO is currently examining facial recognition, an investigation instigated by police use of facial recognition, which in recent Metropolitan Police trials was found to be 98 per cent inaccurate. The Met Police also saw fit to issue a £90 fine to one individual who refused to be scanned by cameras during trials.

The use of facial recognition cameras on private estates across London will add to the cameras that stores, including Tesco, Sainsbury's and Marks and Spencer, have been rolling out that also support facial recognition.