'Facial recognition tech mistook me for wanted man'

Shaun Thompson, a 39-year-old community worker in London, is challenging the Metropolitan Police in court after he was wrongly identified as a suspect by live facial recognition technology. The incident happened outside London Bridge Tube station, where Shaun was stopped by police officers who believed he was a wanted man. The police were using a new technology that scans people’s faces and checks them against a list of suspects. Unfortunately, the system made a mistake and matched Shaun’s face with someone the police were looking for.

Shaun was returning home from his work with Street Fathers, a group that helps protect young people from knife crime. When the police stopped him, they asked for his fingerprints, but he refused. Instead, he showed them a photo of his passport, and after about half an hour, they let him go. Shaun described the experience as intimidating and aggressive. He said it made him feel like he was living in a science fiction movie, where technology is used to predict crimes before they happen. He worries that if the system can make mistakes with him, it could do even more harm to others, especially young people.

Shaun’s case is the first of its kind to reach the High Court. Privacy campaigners from Big Brother Watch are supporting him, arguing that the technology is intrusive and lacks proper rules. They say there are no specific laws about how facial recognition should be used, and the police are making up their own rules. The Metropolitan Police, however, believe the technology is helping them catch dangerous criminals and making London safer. They say that if someone is not wanted, their image is deleted immediately. The police also claim that the system has been tested to make sure it is fair and does not discriminate. Still, Shaun and privacy groups want the government to create clear laws and safeguards to protect people’s rights and prevent mistakes like this from happening again.