Even though Spain is currently dominated by the artificial intelligence wave, there are all kinds of technologies that are currently changing the way society is configured. Without going any further, for now it’s not uncommon to see facial recognition scans in many cities around the world, something that has not been looked upon well by everyone. This is exactly what happened in Great Britain, with Beyoncé’s concert in the Cardiff area.

According to BBC, the artist’s concert which took place last Wednesday for his world tour Beyoncé’s Renaissance joined facial recognition camera. This deployment was carried out by the South Wales police authorities, and was tasked, according to the police, for detection to persons wanted “for priority crimes”.

Although the system was already in use at the coronation ceremony of England’s current King Charles III, its use at such an event went against the disapproval of European legislators, who opposed the use of these cameras in public spaces. .

facial recognition at a concert

The concert was held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, and brought together to nearly 60,000 Beyoncé fans to attend the event. Faced with this situation, the South Wales police immediately clarified various details, such as the use of data and, most importantly, the purpose of implementing the system.

The police would like to clarify that if the person targeted by the facial recognition system is not involved in the search and arrest list, biometric data They didn’t even make it to storage. immediately removed. Otherwise, pictures from this camera they are stored for up to 31 days.

These cameras are monitored around the clock by human operators and, however, this technology will not approve the arrest, because the decision to detain a person is detected with these cameras completely fell on the officers. It is responsible for verifying whether, indeed, the alert from this camera coincides with the image of the person it is searching for and capturing.

According to officials, these cameras are used to support “law enforcement” and ensure “protection of children and vulnerable people”. Also, it is not a condition; users can perfectly enter the stadium if facial recognition doesn’t catch them, according to a spokesperson for the event.

However, there are several facts that call into question the use of these cameras at the event. For example, in the old days of the same South Wales Police have legal problems to use this system. This is because a Cardiff resident, Ed Bridges (whose face was scanned with this technology at a protest in the city) sued the authorities and in 2020, use of this technology by police officers was declared illegal.

This does not prevent the police from continuing to use the camera, because it continues to be tested at subsequent events, even at scans up to nearly 110,000 faces. Part of the South Wales Police Argument is that huge improvements have been made to the accuracy of the system, with only one false match in 6,000. Moreover, in their eyes, they were no longer biased towards race and gender.

Vigilance and error

The use of this technology was supported by Brexit, because we remember last October 2021 the European Parliament asked to ban it use of facial recognition in public spaces, clearly demonstrated their opposition to the massive use of this technology. The basis of this initiative is the concern of MPs about errors that this system can display, based on AI.

Bear in mind that the facial recognition system is like the one used by Interpol using artificial intelligence algorithms and other methods of detecting inherent facial features to compare them with those in criminal databases. For example, in the case of the Interpol system, it encodes facial images entered into the system to compare it with the profile stored in it.

The problem is that this technology, like any other, can fail. Artificial intelligence has been proven in the past major reliability issues in this area, mainly due to gender and racial bias. This can not only lead to enormous discrimination, but can even lead to wrongful arrests.

[Una llave maestra para burlar a los sistemas de reconocimiento facial]

On the other hand, many voices around the world have spoken about this problem of using facial recognition cameras mass surveillance situations which can lead to discrimination. According to a statement by Katy Watts, a lawyer for human rights group Liberty (who works for Cardiff residents who won the trial), the system “instills a pattern of discrimination in surveillance.”

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