UK police use of facial recognition tests public’s tolerance

Football fans crowding outside the Cardiff City football stadium ahead of the English Championship match against Swansea City, in Cardiff, Wales. South Wales police deployed facial recognition surveillance equipment on Jan 12, 2020, in a test to monitor crowds arriving for this weekend soccer match in real-time, which is prompting public debate about possible aggressive uses of facial recognition in Western democracies, raising questions about human rights and how the technology may enter people's daily lives in the future. — AP

LONDON: When British police used facial recognition cameras to monitor crowds arriving for a football match in Wales, some fans protested by covering their faces. In a sign of the technology’s divisiveness, even the head of a neighbouring police force said he opposed it.

The South Wales police deployed vans equipped with the technology outside Cardiff stadium this week as part of a long-running trial in which officers scanned people in real time and detained anyone blacklisted from attending for past misbehaviour. Rights activists and team supporters staged a protest before the game between Cardiff City and Swansea City, wearing masks, balaclavas or scarves around their faces.