Clearview AI fights £7.5m UK privacy fine over scraped web photos Legal US tech firm Clearview AI is challenging a UK privacy watchdog ruling that found it breached GDPR rules by collecting and using images of UK residents scraped from the internet and social media. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) imposed a £7.5m fine on the US-based tech company in May 2022 and asked it to delete UK residents’ [...]
Facial recognition trial at London Bridge sparks backlash from campaigners Tech The British Transport Police’s new live facial recognition trial has barely begun at London Bridge, but activists are already expressing concerns over AI monitoring systems. Cameras went live at the station on 11 February as part of a six-month pilot set to identify people wanted for serious offences as they pass through major stations. The [...]
AI to answer your 101 calls, leaving 999 calls to humans “It’s not unusual for us to see 5,000 calls in 24 hours,” chief superintendent of the Thames Valley police department, Simon Dodds, told City AM. “Prioritising 999 over everything else is a real challenge”. That pressure has pushed his department, as well as the Hampshire & Isle of White Constabulary, to use AI agents. Their new [...]
Facial recognition vans rolled out across England in crime crackdown August 13, 2025 An additional seven police forces in England will be using ten new live facial recognition (LFR) vans to track suspects wanted for serious crimes, including sexual offences, violent assaults, and homicides. The rollout, announced by the Home Office, will see Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, Bedfordshire, Surrey, Sussex, Thames Valley and Hampshire police share the vehicles. [...]
AI watchdog slams government over facial recognition rollout May 29, 2025 An artificial intelligence (AI) search body has criticised the UK government for accelerating the deployment of facial recognition technology without first establishing a comprehensive legal framework. The Ada Lovelace Institute has warned the increasing use of live facial recognition (LFR) by police and retailers across the UK is happening in a “legislative void”, raising urgent [...]
Murder prediction tools and Whatsapp arrests, is Black Mirror already here? April 16, 2025 Whatsapp chat arrests and sieges on Quaker meetings, it's easy to feel like we're already living in Black Mirror, writes Rebecca Vincent.
Facial recognition cameras in Croydon should alarm all Londoners March 25, 2025 The instalment of permanent facial recognition cameras in Croydon should worry us all, writes Big Brother Watch's Rebecca Vincent.
The Notebook: The Orwellian use of facial recognition June 10, 2024 Where the City’s movers and shakers have their say. Today, Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, takes the pen to talk about the increasing use of CCTV surveillance, wasteful policing in Croydon and a weirdly wonderful production of Cabaret Dystopian nightmares in Orwell’s 1984 now look eerily prophetic This weekend marked 75 years since [...]