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Police trial live face-scanning technology: what could possibly go wrong?

6/22/202617 min

In Western Australia, police have just started trialling technology that can identify people as they walk past. 

A marked police van will scan faces outside major events, cross-checking them against a watchlist of people wanted by authorities. Police say it’s targeted and that innocent people have nothing to fear. But once this kind of surveillance is switched on, the question becomes how far it spreads, and who decides when it stops. 

Today, UNSW cyber security expert Professor Richard Buckland, on the scope creep of live facial recognition technology, and the danger of normalising police powers before the public understands them.

 

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Guest: UNSW cyber security expert Professor Richard Buckland

Photo: WA Police

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Clips

Protesting Under the Camera
‘Everyone’s Doing It’ Fallacy
Widening the Surveillance Net
Software Knob of Justice
Built-In Racial Bias

Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

  1. Daniel James· Host0:00

    [gentle music] I'm Daniel James, and you're listening to 7.a.m. In Western Australia, police have just started trialing a technology that can identify people as they walk past. A marked police van will scan faces outside major events, cross-checking them against a watch list of people wanted by authorities. Police say it's targeted and that innocent people have nothing to fear. But once this kind of surveillance is switched on, the question becomes how far it spreads and who decides when it stops. Today, University of New South Wales cybersecurity expert Professor Richard Buckland on the scope creep of live facial recognition and the danger of normalizing police powers before the public understands them. It's Tuesday, June 23.

  2. Speaker 2· Soundbite0:55

    [upbeat music] This is our custom-built live fac-facial recognition van, which is going to be used to assist police operations. The van has a number of features inside it, um, including a computer system which processes, um, images from high-quality cameras, which then compares those images against a database.

  3. Daniel James· Host1:17

    Richard, WA police have announced a trial of live facial recognition technology. What can you tell us about the technology and how will this trial work?

  4. Richard Buckland· Guest1:26

    So, um, this is a very limited trial they've announced. It's,

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