Canada police broke law with facial recognition software, regulator finds

FILE PHOTO: A Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) crest is seen on a member's uniform, at the RCMP "D" Division Headquarters in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada, July 24, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon VanRaes

(Reuters) -The Canadian federal police force broke the law when it used controversial facial recognition software, the country's top privacy regulator found in a report released on Thursday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) initially denied that it used Clearview AI, a U.S.-based facial recognition software that cross-references photos with a database of photos posted to social media. In February 2020, the agency said it had been using it for several months.