London police raise privacy concerns with facial recognition tech

London police for the first time started using facial recognition cameras to scan for wanted people. The adoption of the technology has raised concerns about privacy violations.
Police vans could be seen on Tuesday in Stratford, east London, with signs warning that police were using the technology to find people “wanted for serious crimes”.
Rights groups rejected the measure, arguing about violation of privacy, but also about lack of accuracy as they do not consider the machines accountable:
“We don’t accept this. This isn’t what you do in a democracy. You don’t scan people’s faces with cameras. This is something you do in China, not in the UK”, said Silkie Carlo, director of privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch.
An independent review found only 8 of 42 matches were correct. However, London police say that in trials, the technology correctly identified 7 in 10 wanted people.
The increased security efforts come amid rising terror attacks in London. Earlier this month, an ISIS fanatic was shot dead by undercover police officers after stabbing two people in London’s Streatham district.
After the attack, UK prime minister Boris Johnson has announced a new security measure, saying that terrorists that are currently in jail will lose their right to early release halfway through their sentences.
London has seen a large number of similar terror attacks. Just days ago, a man was convicted of plotting attacks on London tourist sites. In November, two people were stabbed to death by a person who was wearing a hoax bomb. In 2017, seven people died and 48 others were injured by attackers who were also wearing fake explosive vests.