Police Access To Passport Database 'risks public trust'

Uploaded on 2023-10-09 in NEWS-Cybersecurity News, GOVERNMENT-Law Enforcement, FREE TO VIEW

Plans have been unveiled to integrate the British Police National Database (PND) and Passport Office data with other UK national Government databases to enable police to find a facial match with the 'click of one button'.

Crime and policing minister Chris Philp told a recent meeting at the Conservative Party conference that he will be asking the police to check facial images captured during a crime against the Home Office’s passport and immigration records database. If that goes ahead, that means a database of 45 to 50 million images could be used to help catch shoplifters, burglars, car and bike thieves under plans to tackle crime.

This means that the UK police will be ordered to check CCTV from all thefts against official government photo databases in a significant crackdown on crime. However, the UK's surveillance camera commissioner has said government plans to allow police to access passport photos to catch criminals risks damaging public trust.

The UK’s passport database could be used to catch shoplifters, burglars and other criminals under urgent plans to curb crime, the UK policing minister said. Foreign nationals who are not on the passport database could also be found via the immigration and asylum biometrics system, which will be part of an amalgamated system to help catch thieves.

The measures have been deemed controversial by campaigners as the technology could get a match even if images are blurred or partially obscured.

Civil liberty campaigners have warned the plans would be an “Orwellian nightmare” that amount to a “gross violation of British privacy principles”. They have raised concerns about the existing use of facial recognition technology by the police, said using passport photos risks exacerbating them.

Philp's intention is to enable to access a wider range of databases to be built within two years. But it has been said that this could make passport-holders feel as if they were in a "digital line-up".

At present, photos on the police national database are limited to individuals who have been arrested. The police can check images from dashcam and doorbell technologies, as well as home and business security cameras, against the national database.

Civil liberties groups, who have already raised concerns about the existing use of facial recognition technology by the police, said using passport photos risks exacerbating them. However, the UK public may be more receptive to this plan than campaigners believe, with a poll on the Times newspaper website running at 79% in favour of the proposition ‘Should police get access to passport database for facial recognition scans?’.

UK AuthorITy: BBC: Guardian: SlashDot: WalesOnline: Daily Mail: The Times:

Image: Ana Daza

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