London Mayor Sadiq Khan has admitted that the Metropolitan Police has been secretly sharing private data for facial recognition cameras with the company behind the King‛s Cross development – something the Met had initially denied.
The revelation came after questions from Green candidate for London Mayor, Siân Berry, forced the truth to come out. The scandal has resulted in new calls for an immediate stop to the use of facial recognition on our streets by human rights groups, lawyers and politicians. Siân Berry said: “The police have already been ignoring what the independent commissioners for information privacy and biometrics have been saying and trialling this sinister technology on the streets of London.”
“This year, when I first asked the Mayor if the police were also working with private companies, he denied it. But now we know that Metropolitan Police has shared images with at least one company for years in secret, without even telling the Mayor.” “
This is not ok. People have a right to privacy and not to have their faces scanned by new technologies without consent, public consultation or specific legal safeguards in place.”
“What has happened here has gone much too far. The Mayor needs to be alert to what is happening on his watch – in this case he was asleep at the wheel.”