Use of facial recognition for law enforcement controversial in Taiwan

The National Police Agency has denied accusations that it has violated the law and human rights with its biometric facial recognition system.

According to a report in the China Post, a lawmaker from the Democratic Progressive Party recently held a press conference, arguing that the NPA’s newly-launched human face recognition system of its M-Police Operation System violated laws when accessing citizen ID pictures from the country’s household registration system.

According to the report, this Operation System aims to enhance the NPA’s capabilities in using mobile devices and advanced technologies.

In response to the DPP lawmaker’s accusations, the NPA released a press statement saying that through a system of clearances and administrative procedures, the agency needs consent and clearance before accessing the database of the household registration system.

Facial recognition has irked many and ignited the privacy debate, particularly as the technology becomes more prevalent in society and revelations of large-scale spying have made headlines in the past year.

Reported previously in BiometricUpdate.com, while the ACLU has endorsed the use of a voluntary code of conduct for companies to utilize in order to maintain privacy in the face of emerging facial recognition, the group says it would rather legislation be passed to enforce privacy measures.

According to research from the end of 2013, the global facial recognition market has been projected to grow at a CAGR of 24.5 between 2012 and 2016.

Article Topics

facial recognition  |  law enforcement  |  privacy  |  Taiwan