UK rail cops' £320K face-scanning spree nets zero matches
British Transport Police’s six-month facial recognition pilot produced one alert, and it was a false positive
British Transport Police (BTP) spent over £320,000 on a six-month trial of live facial recognition cameras at London railway stations. The technology scanned more than 500,000 faces but only generated one alert, which turned out to be a false positive. According to the figures, the trial consumed nearly 100 hours of police officers' time and cost more than £320,000.
Civil liberties group Liberty expressed concern over the results, stating that the technology produced no correct matches and no arrests. Privacy campaigners at Big Brother Watch and Privacy International also condemned the trial, highlighting the invasive nature of the technology and the lack of specific legal frameworks to regulate its use.
Despite the criticisms, BTP plans to extend the trial until November and expand it to the London Underground.
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- UK rail cops' £320K face-scanning spree nets zero matches theregister.com
