🚨NEWS: Shops using facial recognition have placed innocent people on watchlists for 'malicious reasons', a whistleblower reveals. We've warned that this dangerous tech could be used at the whim of security guards and shops staff. We can't let this continue. We've been in touch with 21 innocent people who were wrongly flagged as a criminal by shops using live facial recognition. Our fight to #StopFacialRecognition is more urgent than ever. Read our vital work covered on front page news today⤵️ theguardian.com/technology/n…

🚨NEWS: Essex Police has halted its use of live facial recognition after racial bias was identified. We warned about this... ⚠️"Almost a year ago, Big Brother Watch warned that Essex Police's failure to check the accuracy of its live facial recognition (LFR) algorithm would put the rights of thousands of people at risk. These warnings have now been borne out, but only after 2.5 million people across the county have had their faces scanned by intrusive technology with known bias and accuracy issues. AI surveillance that is experimental, untested, inaccurate or potentially biased has no place on our streets. It's deeply concerning that Essex Police appear to have taken this facial recognition company's claims at face value and deployed a system they had not even tested. The government should urgently reconsider its shocking plans to squander millions of pounds of public money on a five-fold increase of LFR across the country" - Jake Hurfurt [@JHurfurt]