Private developers are using facial recognition technology without Londoners’ consent, according to Green assembly member Zack Polanski.
Zack has also said that London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan is not doing enough to stop it happening.
At the moment, the private sector can use biometric surveillance in CCTV cameras to capture and store images of anyone in a public space. Zack has pressed Khan to include a warning in the Mayor’s Public London Charter.
Zack said: ‘The public does not trust the private sector to use facial recognition technology and there’s a reason my Green colleagues in City Hall have campaigned against its use.’
The Public London Charter currently states that the surveillance technique should comply with codes of practice. That’s not enough to protect the public’s privacy, according to Zack. ‘As we leave lockdown, our public spaces are more crucial than ever to providing a safe, open space for people to get together.’
Facial recognition uses 3D modelling to identify individuals and match them against police data bases. But critics of the technology say it’s not accurate, especially with women and people of colour. That’s one of the reasons a number of US cities, including San Francisco and Boston, have banned the technology.