00:00The Metropolitan Police will trial handheld facial recognition devices capable of scanning and identifying people on the spot, the Mayor
00:09of London has now revealed.
00:11Officers will be equipped with operator-initiated facial recognition devices for a six-month pilot involving over 100 devices.
00:21Sir Sidi Khan said the new technology would allow officers to check and verify the details of any individual that
00:28is stopped instead of having to arrest them and take them to a police station.
00:33The Met's increasing use of live facial recognition technology has sparked concern from campaigners and some London Assembly members as
00:41well.
00:41But how do Londoners feel about facial recognition here in the capital?
00:46Technology comes with a lot of advantages depending on what it's been used for.
00:50Yeah, but I think I believe that.
00:53I think it has potential to be a real infringement on privacy, but I can also, on the other hand,
01:01see the benefits of it.
01:04I think also it's going to be impossible to stop it, so we're just going to have to live with
01:11it.
01:12No, I don't feel safe. I think it's an infringement on our civil rights.
01:16It's not happy with that. It's supposed to be like a free country, and you don't feel very free with
01:23all that rolling out.
01:25Totally against it. Yeah, it's heading towards sort of China sort of regime, if you ask me.
01:31Yeah, I'm not pleased with that at all. I do not support it in any way, shape or form.
01:37Depending. It's just defense. Sometimes it's risky. Sometimes, like the world we used to know about, like, way back when
01:45we were growing up, the world was safer.
01:47And so you don't have any reason to be afraid for things like this. But the world we are today,
01:55everything is a little bit risky.
01:57I think there can be good sides and bad sides. One of the bad sides is that the facial recognition
02:04is not always accurate, so they can accidentally pin a crime on the wrong person.
02:08And then they say, that's not me. And then they're showing video proof, and then they're insisting it's them.
02:14So in that case, some people could be taken to jail for the wrong crimes. But on the plus side
02:19as well, like, if people fear that they're being monitored, maybe they won't commit as many crimes.
02:24So it's about finding the right balance and making sure that it's ethical as well.
02:31Well, obviously, crime going down is a good thing. But I think the problem with facial recognition is, you know,
02:37you know, we are seeing other countries slipping more and more into authoritarian regimes.
02:45And, yeah, it's, you know, so far, you know, it's okay. But as we slip more and more into authoritarianism,
02:55then we're, you know, with this facial recognition technology, we could be in big trouble.
02:59So, yeah, it's okay.
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