
Police begin operational use of live facial recognition technology in London - borjamoya
http://news.met.police.uk/news/met-begins-operational-use-of-live-facial-recognition-lfr-technology-392451
======
borjamoya
There are a lot of things going on that I find interesting. But one that has
caught my attention is the realization that surveillance is a profitable
business.

Live facial recognition deployments cost a lot of money. Just in Cardiff alone
the police spent 3 million pounds in this technology. And they have more than
25 police officers and with brand new iPads surveilling people in real time.
(I was there.)

Imagine how much money they're going to spend in London now. So besides the
obvious human rights related questions, the other not so obvious one is: Who
is getting these contracts? Where is that money going?

~~~
45ure
Who is getting these contracts? Where is that money going?

From the official PR, it is NEC Corporation.

[https://www.nec.com/en/case/mps/index.html](https://www.nec.com/en/case/mps/index.html)

Metropolitan Police Press Release. [http://news.met.police.uk/news/met-begins-
operational-use-of...](http://news.met.police.uk/news/met-begins-operational-
use-of-live-facial-recognition-lfr-technology-392451)

~~~
Traster
Don’t worry, none of our senior politicians have a track record of directing
public funds to private companies owned by people they’re sleeping with.

~~~
bosie
who are you referencing here?

~~~
IshKebab
Boris Johnson presumably.

~~~
dane-pgp
I think the comment above is correctly guessing who Traster was referring to,
specifically this controversy:

[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/boris-
johnso...](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/boris-johnson-
jennifer-arcuri-model-london-mayor-friendship-conflict-interest-a9115211.html)

------
borjamoya
Big Brother Watch, the UK campaign group fighting facial recognition has
opened a petition to stop the deployment of live facial recognition by the Met
Police:

[https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-the-met-
police-u...](https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-the-met-police-using-
facial-recognition-surveillance)

------
rapnie
So where the EU is now weighing a 5yr ban on FR, the UK after Brexit seems to
be going full on to adoption?

~~~
ptah
that is kind of the point of brexit. UK elites have been frustrated at not
having the kind of totalitarian control they desire thus far

~~~
McDev
I'm not sure what you mean by that being the point in brexit. Theresa May
voted for remain and introduced bills like this one:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investigatory_Powers_Act_2016](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investigatory_Powers_Act_2016)

~~~
ptah
EDIT: your link kind of proves my point:

"On 21 December 2016, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) declared that the
generalised retention of certain types of personal data is unlawful, although
little is known as to how this will affect the Investigatory Powers Act at
this stage."

also my perception is that may and cameron were doing reverse psychology by
backing remain

~~~
CameronNemo
I mean Cameron did put it to a binding referendum with a simple majority. At
least part of him was in support of leaving for him to do that.

~~~
joncrocks
The referendum was advisory/non-binding.

[https://fullfact.org/europe/was-eu-referendum-
advisory/](https://fullfact.org/europe/was-eu-referendum-advisory/)

------
brudgers
The story as reported by the BBC,
[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51237665](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51237665)

------
dang
Url changed from
[https://twitter.com/bbw1984/status/1220681916543840257](https://twitter.com/bbw1984/status/1220681916543840257),
which points to this.

If anyone finds a more neutral and substantive article on this, we can change
it again.

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badumtss
Imagine that a so called democratic country like the UK would go down the same
road as bad and evil China ...

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microdrum
This is interesting in that it seems like explicitly __non-live
__FR:[https://blog.clearview.ai/post/2020-01-23-clearview-is-
not-p...](https://blog.clearview.ai/post/2020-01-23-clearview-is-not-public/)

~~~
rapnie
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22083775](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22083775)

------
ptah
see also:
[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-51196849](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-51196849)

connect the dots

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ajharrison
Banksy was right …

~~~
wmeredith
Banksy was glib. It’s different.

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mindfulhack
We may be losing privacy, but whether we're losing power and freedom is
another thing.

It's important to accept a changing world. Luddites have railed against
'immoral' new technologies that will cause the end of the world, time and time
again.

This adjustment is going to be hard. I believe privacy is a fundamental human
right.

But if technology makes this concept obsolete, then we must adapt.

We may have to change our tune to defending radical acceptance of difference
and fighting against thought policing and over-policing of divergent human
behaviour - not the mere detection of it. Without the freedom for such
creativity and normal humanness, we are doomed.

~~~
ryacko
>But if technology makes this concept obsolete, then we must adapt.

The point of the Third Amendment is that people do lie. Do you trust the
King's soldiers to report on the coming and goings around your house
truthfully?

