UK Home Office publishes privacy assessment for immigration live facial recognition

The UK Home Office has published a 63-page data protection impact assessment for Immigration Enforcement's live facial recognition, which uses NEC software to scan faces in public places. It says non-matching biometric data is deleted immediately, and that every alert is checked by a human before any action is taken. The document also concedes the technology interferes with private life and lists risks including misidentification, demographic bias and retention. It shows real-time facial identification in public spaces becoming a formal, routine tool of border control, so oversight will depend on safeguards the state sets for itself.