EU backs away from call for blanket ban on facial recognition tech

New draft of AI paper drops suggestion of five-year moratorium on surveillance tech.

In a draft of a paper on artificial intelligence to be published next week, the European Commission finds that facial recognition is prone to inaccuracy, can be used to breach privacy laws, and can facilitate identity fraud.

However, unlike the previous draft, the paper no longer includes the suggestion that the commission should consider a blanket moratorium of five years – a period during which states could study the technology’s impact before rolling it out in public spaces.

Instead the latest draft puts the onus on individual member states to assess how and when they wish to permit the use of facial recognition.

Source: EU backs away from call for blanket ban on facial recognition tech