High Court Responds To First Legal Challenge Of The Use Of Live Facial Recognition Technology

Today, in a seminal judgment handed down in relation to a claim for judicial review brought by Mr Edward Bridges, the High Court ruled that the South Wales Police use of live facial recognition technology ('FRT'), which has been trialled since 2017 was lawful even though no specific FRT law was or is in existence. The Court suggested this is the first legal challenge of its kind to be brought anywhere in the world.

Whilst it is crucial to recognise that the judgment is fact-specific, it appears that the Court found that the South Wales Police have deployed this technology in a proportionate and measured way, against a background in which Elizabeth Denhan, the Information Commissioner, expressed her deep concern about the rollout of live facial recognition technology by law enforcement and suggested in the proceedings that the categories of persons in the 'watchlist'...