UK Home Office, police body resist biometrics transparency

UK airport passengers have been secretly checked while boarding aircraft by face biometric scanning cameras under a scheme backed by the Home Office. The shortfall of transparency in the use of facial recognition does not appear to be confined to airports, either, with a national law enforcement body’s policy for handling FOI requests prompting criticism.

Unpublished Home Office orders, which have been obtained under freedom of information (FOI) laws, reveal airports are mandated to carry out biometric face scanning of passengers boarding domestic flights, the Daily Telegraph reports.

The orders come under Schedule Two of the Immigration Act 1971 and are the first known instances of the British government making facial recognition legal requirements. While the mandate has been in place since the last Labour government, meaning for at least 15 years, this is the first time it has been publicly disclosed.

The rules stipulate that a face biometric photo of domestic passengers must be captured as they enter and leave the departure lounge before they board their planes. Airports with a single departure lounge and these airports are expected to use biometric technology to verify the photos to ensure the correct people are boarding their flights.

The rules are intended to prevent international passengers from switching boarding passes to illegally enter the UK on a domestic flight.

A year-long transparency tussle between the Home Office, which fought to keep the orders secret, and Big Brother Watch concluded with the campaign group complaining to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which told the government agency to release the documents. The Home Office had argued that releasing the documents would mean revealing “sensitive operational information.” But ICO’s intervention found that the Home Office did not present “credible evidence” of harm if the orders were revealed.

The obtained orders relate to Manchester and Gatwick airports but the rules are understood to apply to all airports with common departure lounges for both domestic and international passengers. For Gatwick airport the order states “biometric systems” must be used with a “photo reconciliation system” located at the entrance and exit to the common departure lounge. Failure to comply with the rule carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

Madeline Stone, senior advocacy officer at Big Brother Watch, said: “This is the first example of mandated facial recognition in Britain and represents a new era of biometric surveillance of citizens, yet the Home Office fought to keep this legal notice a secret.”

She said “tens of millions” of passengers have “no choice” but to have their faces scanned. The Daily Telegraph quoted a Home Office spokesperson who said: “The use of facial recognition at airports protects the public and our borders by preventing passengers from bypassing border control and exploiting our immigration system.”

FOI handling draws transparency complaint

A national policing unit in the UK has also been criticized for instructing local police forces to block the release of information even as laws are in place to protect the public’s right to know.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) told forces not to reveal information on topics related to the use of banned surveillance software and the proliferation of super-strength drugs, reports the BBC.

Big Brother Watch said the NPCC unit, known as the Central Referral Unit (CRU), was acting like an “authoritarian censor” rather than a public body. In response, the CRU said it has acted in accordance with legislation and only recommended how local forces should respond to FOI requests.

On one occasion, the CRU advised forces to retract previous responses and instead neither confirm nor deny if officers had used the facial recognition search engine PimEyes, according to documents obtained by Liberty Investigates. PimEyes has been banned by the Metropolitan Police.

The CRU has been criticized by Big Brother Watch for its “censor”-like practices while a BBC investigation pointed to the CRU’s failure to comply with best practices when handling FOI requests. In a statement, the NPCC said complaints about how forces applied the FOI Act could be referred to the ICO.

Article Topics

border security  |  facial recognition  |  Home Office Biometrics (HOB)  |  London Metropolitan Police  |  police  |  real-time biometrics