Rights group says EU biometric surveillance still under debate

As the European Union inches toward the completion of its Artificial Intelligence Act, human rights organizations are warning about the risks posed by mass biometric surveillance while countries such as Spain are introducing new agencies dedicated to supervising AI.

The battle over AI Act is not over: Digital rights group

The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), a non-governmental organization focused on digital rights, warns that the debate around biometric surveillance – one of the most controversial issues within the AI Act – is far from decided.

In June, the European Parliament adopted its position on the landmark legislation voting to support a full ban on real-time biometric surveillance. The Act is expected to come into effect sometime after 2025 after the completion of trilogues between the European Commission, the EU Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers, a body representing European governments.

The final results of these negotiations, however, may still be up in the air, the organization writes in a briefing published last Friday. While the EU Parliament excluded real-time use of biometric surveillance, it did include an exception for retroactive use of facial recognition in public in the case of serious crimes and with approval from judicial authorities.

At the same time, the European Council has agreed in their version of the text to extend the use of remote biometric identification systems by law enforcement and migration authorities in the case of threats to critical infrastructure or the health of individuals. In addition, the text would authorize the use of real-time biometric identification systems to investigate and prosecute all offenses carrying a sentence of at least 5 years.

The European Council also excludes border control areas from the definition of “publicly accessible spaces,” allowing remote biometric surveillance to be used in these areas.

“These two opposing positions demonstrate how the question of biometric surveillance will be a key part of the debate during the final months of negotiation on the EU’s AI Act,” the organization says.

The European Commission is pushing for negotiations to conclude by the end of this year.

The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) advocates that mass biometric surveillance should be prohibited while other uses of biometric surveillance systems, such as that used on border crossing, should be permitted only under a robust regulatory regime. The Brussels-based branch of the D.C. non-profit organization has joined the chorus of digital rights groups that have been sending recommendations to EU lawmakers over the crucial final months of the AI Act’s formation.

Spain takes AI oversight into its own hands with a new agency

As negotiation continues, Spain is inching closer to launching Europe’s first AI regulatory agency.

Last week, the Spanish government approved the statute of the Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence (Agencia Española de Supervisión de la Inteligencia Artificial, AESIA) in the Council of Ministers, Europa Press reports.

The agency was first announced in December 2021 in preparation for the upcoming EU AI Act.

The new body will be part of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation which in 2020 published the country’s national AI strategy. The government’s goal is to create a framework for AI development that is “inclusive, sustainable and centered on citizens” as part of its 2026 Digital Agenda.

Spain has taken a keen interest in various applications of AI this year. In May, the country’s data watchdog issued a US$220,700 fine to the organizer of Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, one the largest technology fair in the world. The agency ruled that the conference violated several provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) after deploying a facial recognition system for visitor access to the venue.

In April, the country also launched a preliminary investigation into potential data breaches by ChatGPT.

Article Topics

AI  |  AI Act  |  biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  EU  |  regulation  |  Spain  |  surveillance