Is Big Brother watching you shop? - podcast From supermarkets to corner shops, live facial recognition could be coming to retailers near you. Live facial recognition is being hailed as a powerful new frontier in the fight against crime, not only by police but by private companies too. Retailers from supermarkets to corner shops hope it will help them fight back against shoplifting. And the technology doesn't always get it right. With more police forces wanting to take up the technology, what could the consequences be?

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. I'll never buy another laptop without Windows Hello It's so important, I even go out of my way to add it to my desktop PCs! I review a lot of laptops here at PCWorld, and I'm always surprised when I unbox one without biometric hardware. Fingerprint readers and infrared (IR) cameras for facial recognition are both great--and some laptops even have both! But then you have those that skip the biometric hardware entirely, which is a huge loss these days.

Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2026 is Feb. 25 Valve's Steam Machine: Everything we know The controversial technology could roll out as soon as this year. Meta has backed away from highly controversial facial recognition tech in its products and services before, but seemingly not so far that it isn't willing to have another crack at it. A new report from claims Mark Zuckerberg's company wants to add facial recognition to its lineup of branded smart glasses at some point this year. The spoke to four anonymous people with knowledge of Meta's plans, who told the publication that the feature is codenamed Name Tag internally. As you'd expect, it would let people wearing Meta-powered Oakley or Ray-Ban glasses identify people and get information about them using AI.

ICE and CBP's Face-Recognition App Can't Actually Verify Who People Are ICE has used Mobile Fortify to identify immigrants and citizens alike over 100,000 times, by one estimate. It wasn't built to work like that--and only got approved after DHS abandoned its own privacy rules. The face-recognition app Mobile Fortify, now used by United States immigration agents in towns and cities across the US, is not designed to reliably identify people in the streets and was deployed without the scrutiny that has historically governed the rollout of technologies that impact people's privacy, according to records reviewed by WIRED. The Department of Homeland Security launched Mobile Fortify in the spring of 2025 to "determine or verify" the identities of individuals stopped or detained by DHS officers during federal operations, records show. DHS explicitly linked the rollout to an executive order, signed by President Donald Trump on his first day in office, which called for a "total and efficient" crackdown on undocumented immigrants through the use of expedited removals, expanded detention, and funding pressure on states, among other tactics. Despite DHS repeatedly framing Mobile Fortify as a tool for identifying people through facial recognition, however, the app does not actually "verify" the identities of people stopped by federal immigration agents--a well-known limitation of the technology and a function of how Mobile Fortify is designed and used.

Technology is being repurposed to find lost animals--and owners who don't clean up after their pets. Apartment complexes are increasingly using DNA analysis to identify which owners leave behind unscooped dog waste. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. It is every pet owner's worst nightmare: their beloved furry friend going missing. In 2025, a dog named Ziggy made a break for it and bolted during a road trip with his human, a California woman named Surely.

A border patrol agent scans the face of a driver in Minneapolis on 13 January 2026. A border patrol agent scans the face of a driver in Minneapolis on 13 January 2026. Immigration enforcement agents across the US are increasingly relying on a new smartphone app with facial recognition technology. The app is named Mobile Fortify. Simply pointing a phone's camera at their intended target and scanning the person's face allows Mobile Fortify to pull data on an individual from multiple federal and state databases, some of which federal courts have deemed too inaccurate for arrest warrants.

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'British FBI' to take over terror and fraud probes in reforms to police A new national police force is being created to take over counter-terror, fraud, and criminal gang investigations. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the new National Police Service (NPS), described as a British FBI, would deploy world class talent and state of the art technology to track down and catch dangerous criminals. It will bring the work of existing agencies such as the National Crime Agency and regional organised crime units under the same organisation, buying new technology such as facial recognition on behalf of all forces. Mahmood said policing was stuck in a different century and the new body will form part of a series of police reforms she will unveil on Monday. The NPS will cover England and Wales but be able to operate in the wider UK, setting standards and training.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. The new smart lock series boasts dual batteries and support for Matter-over-Wi-Fi. A higher-end model also supports palm vein and fingerprint recognition. SwitchBot introduced its SwitchBot Lock Vision Series of smart deadbolts at CES today. The new locks use facial recognition as a primary unlock method, which the company positions as a more foolproof and hands-free means of securing your home's front door.

Amazon Ring introduces AI-powered facial recognition to identify friends and delivery drivers, while privacy advocates warn of surveillance risks despite convenience benefits.