The European Parliament Voted to Ban Remote Biometric Surveillance
It’s not actually banned in the EU yet—the legislative process is much more complicated than that—but it’s a step: a total ban on biometric mass surveillance.
To respect “privacy and human dignity,” MEPs said that EU lawmakers should pass a permanent ban on the automated recognition of individuals in public spaces, saying citizens should only be monitored when suspected of a crime.
The parliament has also called for a ban on the use of private facial recognition databases—such as the controversial AI system created by U.S. startup Clearview (also already in use by some police forces in Europe)—and said predictive policing based on behavioural data should also be outlawed.
MEPs also want to ban social scoring systems which seek to rate the trustworthiness of citizens based on their behaviour or personality.
Francesco Mantovani • October 11, 2021 8:29 AM
I live in a 5 floor building in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Every now and then, especially during the pandemic, our parcels have been stolen multiple times. This happens randomly on a weekly bases. Thief are targeting small parcels that can contain a GoPro or a phone but also larger packages that still contains valuable items.
We signed a petition asking for a camera that could record the front door access but because the Swiss law forbids to record people in public places we still cannot have the camera on our front door. We are 4 families per floor: 20 families agreed to be recorded daily and we cannot because of the Swiss Law.
I tell you how this is going to end: 10-20 years form now people are going to vote, bagging for AI recognition.
Ask to a woman that lives in London or Paris if she feel safer with or without cameras at each corner of the street.