Revealed: Home Office secretly lobbied for facial recognition 'spy' company

Senior officials at the Home Office secretly lobbied the UK's independent privacy regulator to act "favourably" towards a private firm keen to roll out controversial facial recognition technology across the country, according to internal government emails seen by the Observer. Correspondence reveals that the Home Office wrote to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) warning that policing minister, Chris Philp, would "write to your commissioner" if the regulator's investigation into Facewatch – whose facial recognition cameras have provoked huge opposition after being installed in shops – was not positive towards the firm. An official from the Home Office's data and identity directorate warned the ICO: "If you are about to do something imminently in Facewatch's favour then I should be able to head that off [Philp's intervention], otherwise we will just have to let it take its course." The apparent threat came two days after a closed-door meeting on 8 March between Philp, senior Home Office officials and Facewatch. Facewatch uses cameras to check faces against a watch list and, despite widespread concern over the technology, it has already been introduced in hundreds of high street shops and supermarkets.