Sir, – I write to express my concerns about the proposed use of facial recognition technology by An Garda Síochána as recently suggested by various Government Ministers and officials (“Greens request sight of plan to expand facial recognition technology use”, News, November 27th). It appears to me that this is somewhat of a knee-jerk reaction to the recent anti-social behaviour seen on our streets, and in my view it has not been thought through.
One significant logistical challenge to the immediate deployment of facial recognition technology is the lack of a universally accepted and ethically obtained database of facial images, required for identification of the suspects from the video recordings. Existing large biometric image databases, such as passport, driving licence or the public service card records databases, cannot be used due to general data protection regulations (GDPR) which mandate that data be only used for the purposes for which it was gathered. In addition, the potential for misuse, privacy infringement, and biased outcomes underscores the need for a careful examination of the ethical foundations supporting the deployment of such technology. Without proper safeguards, there is a significant risk of unintended consequences and violations of individual privacy, as widely observed in the UK and the US where this technology is already in use. – Yours, etc,
BILL HARTE,
Dublin 6.