EU lawmakers propose strict curbs on use of facial recognition

EU regulators have proposed strict curbs on the use of facial recognition in public spaces, limiting the controversial technology to a small number of public-interest scenarios, according to new draft legislation seen by the Financial Times.

In a confidential 138-page document, officials said facial recognition systems infringed on individuals’ civil rights and therefore should only be used in scenarios in which they were deemed essential, for instance in the search for missing children and the policing of terrorist events.

The draft legislation added that “real-time” facial recognition—which uses live tracking rather than past footage or photographs—in public spaces by the authorities should only ever be used for limited periods of time, and it should be subject to prior consent by a judge or a national authority. The document comes as privacy advocates, politicians, and European citizens have become increasingly vocal about regulating the use of live facial recognition. At present, there are no clear rules around how and where the technology can be used on the general public, so the proposed legislation would be the first to codify these limitations into law.