Automated facial recognition breaches GDPR, says EU digital chief

Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission’s executive vice president for digital affairs, has said that automated facial recognition breaches GDPR as it doesn’t gain consent.

GDPR classes information on a person’s facial features as biometric data, which is labeled as “sensitive personal data.” The use of such data is highly restricted, and typically requires consent from the subject — unless the processing meets a range of exceptional circumstances.

Vestager told reporters that the Commission will further investigate automated facial recognition before introducing legislation, allowing member states to make their own domestic decisions in the meantime.

Source: Automated facial recognition breaches GDPR, says EU digital chief