EU plans sweeping regulation of facial recognition

The European Commission is exploring ways to impose strict limits on the use of facial recognition technology to stamp out creeping public surveillance of European citizens.

The European Commission is planning regulation that will give EU citizens explicit rights over the use of their facial recognition data as part of an overhaul in the way Europe regulates artificial intelligence, according to senior officials who spoke to the Financial Times.

The aim would be to limit “the indiscriminate use of facial recognition technology’’ by companies and public authorities, said an official.

Under the plan, European citizens would be given the powers to “know when [facial recognition] data is used”, with any exceptions “tightly circumscribed” to ensure appropriate use, said the source.

Ursula von der Leyen, incoming president of the commission, has said she will unveil legislation within her first 100 days in office that will provide a “co-ordinated European approach on the human and ethical implications of artificial intelligence”.

Via The Financial Times