WA police facial recognition trial launches with a real-time arrest – and backlash over privacy

Live video feeds can scan hundreds of faces a minute, instantly cross-referencing their profiles. But critics fear false alerts, algorithmic bias and ‘function creep’Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe arrest unfolded in real time, behind a bank of television microphones at Perth’s busy Mirrabooka bus station. As Western Australia’s police commissioner, Col Blanch, spoke to reporters on Thursday 2 July, a camera mounted on a nearby marked police van had been quietly panning across the interchange.It can scan hundreds of faces a minute, instantly cross-referencing their profiles against a database of about 4,000 people: those with outstanding arrest warrants, registered child sexual abuse offenders and people reported missing. Continue reading...