The UK will soon see live facial recognition technology (LFT) being introduced across the entire country. The hardware basically revolves cameras being mounted on vans in busy streets and used to identify people as they walk by. The aim is to be able to help in locating and prosecuting criminals, reducing the time and manpower required by the Metropolitan Police to find such evidence and information.
This is now coming into effect as a recent legal proceeding has failed, with the grounds for this claim being that the LFT could be used in a discriminatory or arbitrary manner. Two claimants argued that they were misidentified by the technology during its testing period in London, causing the legacy ordeal that has now reached its conclusion with the High Court determining that discrimination could not infect the system.
While many may fear the Big Brother, "always watching" element to the technology and what it could ultimately lead to, including how it could abuse biometric data of those it scans, the risk associated with these claims is regarded as "only minimal".
Speaking about the expansion of LFT, policing minister, Sarah Jones, has stated (as per BBC News): "I welcome today's ruling because there can be no true liberty when people live in fear of crime in their communities. Live facial recognition only locates specifically wanted people - law-abiding citizens have nothing to fear. This technology puts dangerous rapists and murderers behind bars - and I question any group who call that uncivil. We are rolling out facial recognition across the country with record investment to keep communities safe."