Italy puts the kibosh on facial recognition. According Reuters, our transalpine neighbors banned, on Monday, November 14, the use of facial recognition on the recommendation of its agency dedicated to data protection. Thus, these systems using biometric data will not be authorized until a specific law is adopted or at least until the end of next year, explained the Garante per la protezione dei dati personali (GPDP), the Italian equivalent of the CNIL.
“The moratorium stems from the need to regulate the eligibility conditions, conditions and guarantees relating to facial recognition, respecting the principle of proportionality”the agency said in a statement.
As always in this type of case, the organization indicates however that an exception is provided for when these technologies play a role in judicial investigations or in the fight against crime. Conditions which therefore remain unclear, even if they should be sufficient to guarantee that these technologies are not used in the prevention of crime, and therefore installed in the streets.
Precisely, the GPDP responds to two municipalities with this decision. In Lecce, southern Italy, authorities said they would start using technology based on facial recognition. The municipality was ordered to provide a description of the systems adopted, their purpose and their legal basis, as well as a list of the databases to which its monitoring devices have access. In the Tuscan city of Arezzo, the local police want to equip themselves with “infrared glasses” able to recognize car license plates. The police will therefore have to do without it.