The head of the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has raised alarm over the potential abuses of facial recognition software, after several investigations found that the technology was not being properly deployed.
UK Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham noted in a blog post published on Friday that facial recognition technology can be harnessed to make our lives more efficient and secure, but said there was a clear danger that it could be misused.
Live facial recognition (LFR) technology capable of scanning people’s faces in real time as they walk down the street or enter a shop can be used “inappropriately, excessively or even recklessly,” the head of the UK data watchdog said, noting that there could be “significant” consequences if sensitive personal data were collected on a mass scale without people even knowing they were being monitored.
A shack in the deep woods is looking better every day.
