EU privacy watchdogs call for ban on facial recognition in public spaces

BRUSSELS: Europe's two privacy watchdogs teamed up on Monday (Jun 21) to call for a ban on the use of facial recognition in public spaces, going against draft European Union rules which would allow the technology to be used for public security reasons. The European Commission in April proposed rules on artificial intelligence, including a ban on most surveillance, in a bid to set global standards for a key technology dominated by China and the United States. The proposal does allow high-risk AI applications to be used in areas such as migration and law enforcement, though it laid out strict safeguards, with the threat of fines of as much as 6per cent of a company's global turnover for breaches. The proposal needs to be negotiated with EU countries and the bloc's lawmakers before it becomes law. The two privacy agencies, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) and European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), warned of the extremely high risks posed by remote biometric identification of individuals in public areas.