Property developer defends facial ID cameras near Google headquarters

Property development company, Argent, has defended the use of facial recognition technology on its sites as a tool to "ensure public safety". 

 

Facial recognition technology aims to capture data points and features from images of individuals, which is then matched on a database to identify them. 

 

Argent, who manages a 67-acre site in London's King's Cross has stated that the technology is used to protect the privacy of the general public by using "sophisticated systems", but it is not clear how many cameras are being used. 

 

Argent recently developed the site at King's Cross which houses Google's UK headquarters, Universal Music Group and other businesses. It has also been reported that the use of facial recognition technology may be replicated at Argent's other development sites such as Canary Wharf later this year. 

 

Critics and campaigners have warned that private companies should not be allowed to conduct secret identity checks on the public however the use of these technologies is increasing. 

 

Director of Big Brother Watch, Silkie Carlo, said it was "the worst-case scenario for privacy" and compared it to forcing members of the public to give their fingerprints to an unidentified private company.

 

He said: "Huge areas of our capital have been sold off, privately policed, and are now being covered with Chinese-style surveillance. Private companies are asserting the right to monitor and secretly conduct identity checks on tens of thousands of us. What happens with our data is anyone's guess."

 

Current data protection laws state that private firms must provide clear evidence that there is a need to record and use people's images if they want to use facial recognition technology. 

 

Alan Woodward, privacy expert at the University of Surrey, disputes that legislation is clear enough. He said: "I'm seriously concerned that this data is being collected, albeit initially for very laudable reasons, but there is little if any legislation or regulation about how the data is used".