UK police use of facial recognition ruled unlawful

LONDON: The use of facial recognition technology by a British police force was ruled unlawful on Tuesday by the Court of Appeal in a case brought by a civil rights campaigner. Ed Bridges had challenged South Wales Police´s use of the technology after his face was scanned on two separate occasions in Cardiff — once while Christmas shopping in 2017 and at an anti-arms protest a year later. He said the technology had caused him “distress”. The judges backed his appeal and ruled there was no clear guidance on where AFR Locate — the technology being trialled by South Wales Police — could be used and who could be put on a watchlist.