Facial recognition tech could mean innocent people being misidentified as criminal suspects

ICCL calls for all parties to abandon plans for discriminatory tech ahead of general election 

31 October 2024

An art mural warning how Garda use of facial recognition technology could lead to innocent people being misidentified as criminal suspects, with women and people of colour at increased risk, has been unveiled in Dublin. 

It comes as the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), ahead of the general election, calls on all political parties to commit to abandon current Government plans to introduce facial recognition technology (FRT) into Irish policing and protect people in Ireland from its well-established harms. 

The ICCL-commissioned mural, by artist Emmalene Blake, on Chancery Street in Dublin 7, is the latest action in ICCL’s ongoing campaign against the Minister for Justice’s plans to introduce FRT into Irish policing. 

Speaking today, Olga Cronin, Surveillance and Human Rights Senior Policy Officer with ICCL, said:

“Facial recognition technology is a highly intrusive and invasive technology that is faulty, unreliable and discriminatory, and will have negative impacts on people’s lives and our society in the short and long term. Our mural highlights these twin dangers. 

“While everyone subjected to FRT is at risk of being misidentified, FRT is least accurate when it is used to identify women and people with darker skin tones. In the short term, Garda use of FRT could increase the likelihood of women and people of colour being wrongfully misidentified and questioned by gardaí for crimes they have not committed. This is already happening in the UK and the US. Our mural is a warning against this occurring here in Ireland too. 

“In the long term, as the technology gets more sophisticated, enabling Garda use of FRT means we will be putting a chilling power in the hands of gardaí to identify and track us as we go about our daily lives. Giving gardaí access to FRT would completely change Irish policing and the relationship between gardaí and the communities they serve, in particular minoritised communities. 

“The government has said it intends to give gardaí access to FRT and yet the Oireachtas Justice Committee, which includes government TDs and senators, has highlighted serious deficiencies in the government’s plans. Ahead of the general election, we are calling on all political parties to abandon plans to introduce facial recognition technology into Irish policing and to protect the fundamental human rights of everyone in this country.” 

The mural follows an event held by ICCL in Dublin in June with Robert Williams, a Detroit man who was wrongfully arrested due to faulty FRT in 2020, and his lawyer Nathan Freed Wessler, to highlight the persistent issues of FRT use by police. Last October, ICCL held a conference where experts warned against the government’s plans for garda use of FRT.  

ICCL has an active petition calling on the government to abandon its plans to introduce facial recognition technology into Irish policing, which people can sign on our website. 

ENDS