EU wants data: How does police use of remote face biometrics affect civil rights?

European Union officials have put out for bid a research report about how member states are using remote facial recognition in police work and how the practice is affecting fundamental rights.

The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights has budgeted up to €350,000 (US$381,000) for the contract and expects it to last 11.5 months. Bids must be submitted by September 29.

Agency officials want to hear about six ongoing law enforcement use cases being tested or that have been deployed in at least four member states.

The final list of six use cases will be made by the officials and could include remote biometric identification in public or privately owned spaces and crowd control.

The biometric surveillance systems can be designed to prevent imminent threats including terrorism and other serious crimes or to locate crime victims.

Qualitative fieldwork including interviews with law enforcement agency personnel, businessowners, national human rights leaders, civil society groups and government officials charged with protecting public data is expected to inform the report.

Remote biometric identification was one of the main points of contention in the formulation of the EU’s AI Act.

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biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  EU  |  facial recognition  |  police  |  tender