The use of FRT by both police and private actors has a seismic impact on the way our society is monitored or policed. The roll out of such intrusive technology does not only pose significant privacy and data protection questions, but also ethical questions around whether modern democracies should ever permit its use.
For example, the radical introduction of FRT will inevitably result in the normalisation of surveillance across all societal levels and accordingly cast a "chilling effect" on the exercise of fundamental rights, such as our freedom of expression or our right to protest.
PI is deeply concerned that the use of FRT by both private companies and the police raises significant problems for our individual freedoms. The intrusiveness of FRT and the dangers associated with its potential abuse by the police call for robust safeguards and oversight governing its authorisation and use.

We investigate the creeping use of facial recognition across the world and draw attention to its dangers within our reports.
We work with community groups, activists, and others to raise awareness about the technology and what they can do about it, for example in our Neighboorhood Watched campaign
And we also push national and international bodies to listen to peoples' concerns and take steps to protect people's privacy. Last year we raised our concerns around the use of FRT and other technologies before the UN Human Rights Committee. We also submitted evidence to the Scottish Parliament Justice Sub-Committe on Policing, which subsequently said that the roll out of the technology would be 'unjustifiable'.