New laws governing biometric technologies are “urgently needed”, Matthew Ryder QC has found, as part of the conclusions of an independent review commissioned by the Ada Lovelace Institute.
The use of biometric data - including faces, fingerprints, voices, DNA profiles and other measurements related to the body - is becoming increasingly common in new technologies, particularly those related to facial recognition. However, the review has ruled that the legislation currently in place in England and Wales has "not kept up" with developments in this technology, finding it to be "fragmented" and "unclear" regarding its use.
Among the legal review’s ten recommendations are that public use of live facial recognition (LFR) technology be suspended pending the creation of a legally binding code of practice governing its use, as well as the passing of wider, technologically neutral legislation to create a statutory framework governing...