The Horizon Scandal showed how tech can destroy lives. Live facial recognition could be worse

While the police present live facial recognition (LFR) as a vital, modern tool for catching serious offenders, critics warn of a dangerous new era of surveillance.

In response to public anxieties, police often fall back on a familiar refrain: "If you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to hide."

However, this argument, as reassuring as it may sound, is being met with increasing scepticism.

Drawing a chilling parallel to the Post Office Horizon scandal, a grave miscarriage of justice where hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted due to a flawed computer system, critics argue that such blind faith in technology is a catastrophic mistake waiting to be repeated.

The scandal exposed a profound institutional failure to question a system's infallibility, a culture of prioritising the technology over the real-world experiences of those it harmed. The worry is that the police and government are showing a similar lack of accountability with LFR.

This isn't merely a technical debate; it's a fundamental test of cultural and ethical values. The police’s "nothing to hide" argument ignores the core principles of an open society, where the burden of proof rests on the state, not the individual.

The use of LFR fundamentally reverses this, treating everyone as a potential suspect to be scanned and vetted. This practice risks creating a "chilling effect," where people become hesitant to exercise their rights to protest or even move freely in public for fear of being scrutinised by a system with a documented history of bias.

As studies have shown, LFR algorithms are less accurate for women and people of colour, a fact that raises the terrifying prospect of amplifying racial profiling. By failing to establish a clear legal framework and independent oversight—a crucial lesson from the Post Office scandal—the government is gambling with public trust.

Without a culture that prioritises accountability over convenience, the shadow of one technological scandal could easily give way to the cold, hard reality of another, leaving the public to wonder if the police's pursuit of efficiency has come at the cost of justice itself.

____________________

Dr Luke Roberts is an author and CEO who works to change systems by innovating with organisations and communities.

LBC Opinion provides a platform for diverse opinions on current affairs and matters of public interest.

The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official LBC position.

To contact us email opinion@lbc.co.uk