The man responsible for ensuring the EU's institutions stick to its data protection laws believes Europe isn't ready for facial recognition tech that watches people in public. European "society is not ready," European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) Wojciech Wiewiórowski told POLITICO in an interview. The tech and its applications have divided Europe. The EU's proposed AI legislation bans most applications of remote biometric identification, such as facial recognition, in public places by law enforcement, but makes exceptions for fighting "serious" crime, which could include terrorism. Proponents of the technology, which include law enforcement and some security-minded governments, argue that the police need the technology to catch criminals.

A legal code of practice is needed before face recognition technology can be safely deployed by police forces in public places, says the UK's data regulator. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said it has serious concerns about the use of the technology as it relies on large amounts of personal information, in a blog post. Current laws, codes and practices "will not drive the ethical and legal approach that's needed to truly manage the risk that this technology presents," said information commissioner Elizabeth Denham. She called for police forces to be compelled to show justification that face recognition is "strictly necessary, balanced and effective" in each case it is deployed. Face recognition can map faces in a crowd by measuring the distance between facial features, then compare results with a "watch list" of images, which can include suspects, missing people and persons of interest. South Wales Police and the Met Police have been trialling face recognition as a possible way to reduce crime, but the move has been divisive.