by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief
LONDON/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Britain is facing calls for stronger safeguards on the planned use of facial recognition cameras across the country after the Home Office admitted the system is more likely to incorrectly identify black and Asian people than their white counterparts.
The controversy added to concerns that the cameras, used in cities, towns, and villages across the nation, will lead to a Big Brother “dystopian nightmare.”
Some Bible experts say the system resembles an era of the Beast when the anti-Christ will rule the world for seven years.
Following the latest testing conducted by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) of the technology’s application within the police national database, the Home Office said it was “more likely to incorrectly include some demographic groups in its search results”.
POLICE LEADERS URGE CAUTION
Police and crime commissioners said publication of the NPL’s findings “sheds light on a concerning inbuilt bias” and urged caution over plans for a national expansion.
The findings were released on Thursday, hours after Sarah Jones, the policing minister, had described the technology as the “biggest breakthrough since DNA matching”.
Facial recognition technology scans people’s faces and then cross-references the images against watchlists of known or wanted criminals.
It can be used while examining live footage of people passing by cameras, comparing their faces with those on wanted lists, or by officers to target individuals as they walk past mounted cameras.
POLICE, PASSPORT, AND IMMIGRATION
Images of suspects can also be run retrospectively through police, passport, or immigration databases to identify them and check their backgrounds.
Analysts who examined the police national database’s retrospective facial recognition technology tool at a lower setting found that “the false positive identification rate (FPIR) for white subjects (0.04%) is lower than that for Asian subjects (4.0%) and black subjects (5.5%)”.
The testing went on to find that the number of false positives for black women was exceptionally high. “The FPIR for black male subjects (0.4%) is lower than that for black female subjects (9.9%),” the report said.
The revelations sparked an immediate backlash from rights groups and several lawmakers, who warned that the government risks embedding discriminatory technology into everyday policing.
CIVIL LIBERTIES UNDER PRESSURE
Civil-liberties organizations such as Big Brother Watch said the data confirms that minority communities will face disproportionate scrutiny, potentially leading to wrongful arrests and further erosion of trust in law enforcement.
Despite these concerns, ministers have signaled they intend to press ahead with a nationwide rollout, arguing that facial recognition has already helped capture violent criminals and missing persons.
They stress that safeguards will be strengthened as accuracy improves.
However, critics counter that the United Kingdom is moving toward one of the most expansive biometric-surveillance regimes in the democratic world. They fear the technology could normalize continuous monitoring of the population, with cameras deployed in transport hubs, shopping centers, public gatherings, and even rural communities.
Several legislators have called for Parliament to impose strict legal limits, warning that without robust oversight, the technology could undermine fundamental freedoms and accelerate a shift toward a surveillance state.
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