Petition urges EU regulators to ban biometric mass surveillance

The European Union (EU) should ban biometric mass surveillance tools such as facial recognition when it lays out its plans to regulate artificial intelligence (AI), a coalition of privacy advocates have claimed. The coalition, which includes Reclaim Your Face, European Digital Rights (EDRi), Privacy International, and numerous other non-profits, has made its demands official by launching a petition aimed at pressuring the EU to reconsider its stance on surveillance using biometric technology. The petition warns of numerous potential outcomes of not regulating the technology, such as employers monitoring facial expressions of job candidates in order to decide if they're fit for the position, or insurance companies increasing premiums based on dress codes. The coalition listed various examples of uses of biometric mass surveillance in EU member states including France and Serbia, which had violated EU data protection law as well as "unduly restricted people's rights including their privacy, right to free speech, right to protest and not to be discriminated against". According to EDRi member Linus Neumann, biometrics used in mass surveillance bring "'internet-style' omnipresent tracking to the offline world", leading to the eradication of "the few remaining refuges of privacy".