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The Reader: Facial recognition tech evokes Big Brother

PA
PA

The Metropolitan Police’s decision to use facial recognition technology across London [“Met’s big brother goes London wide ”, January 24] is a dangerous and sinister step.

It takes us one step closer to becoming a surveillance state where the freedom to live our lives free from State interference no longer exists.

Across the world facial recognition technology has been rejected by democracies and embraced by oppressive regimes. San Francisco, where facial recognition was invented, has banned it — and the EU is considering following suit.

Facial recognition cameras give the State extraordinary power to track and monitor all of us, destroying our privacy and free expression. The UK must ban this technology — not roll it out on our streets.
Martha Spurrier​, Director, Liberty

Editor's reply

Dear Martha

Like you I certainly wouldn’t want to live in a “surveillance state” in which our every movement could be tracked, but what’s being implemented by the Met is a very long way from that. It’s important to keep a sense of proportion, rather than imagining scenarios well out of step with the reality.

To recap, Scotland Yard’s scheme involves only temporary cameras for limited periods at specific locations that will be used to identify suspects on “watch lists” created for the particular deployment. That seems reasonable to me and simply amounts to replacing human police “spotters”, and similar visual identification by eyesight, with technology that is more accurate.

As with all rights issues, there’s a balance to be struck, which in this case means considering the rights of law-abiding citizens to be protected from knife carriers, sex offenders and other violent criminals who will now find it harder to escape detection.

We must of course remain vigilant, but shunning technology altogether would be a mistake.
Martin Bentham, Home Affairs Editor

Discussing the Holocaust is vital​

Seventy-five years since the liberation of Auschwitz, learning the lessons of the Holocaust seems to become more relevant with the passage of time [“Remembering the Holocaust 75 years on”, January 23]. As the number of survivors diminishes, there are few who can tell of their first-hand experiences.

The Duchess of Cambridge lights a candle during the UK Holocaust Memorial Day Commemorative Ceremony (PA)
The Duchess of Cambridge lights a candle during the UK Holocaust Memorial Day Commemorative Ceremony (PA)

Despite huge investment in Holocaust education and teaching about coexistence, prejudice and intolerance are on the rise.

As a multi-faith community in London, we need to recommit to Holocaust education and respecting people’s differences in our schools, workplaces and public spaces.
Zaki Cooper, Trustee, Council of Christians and Jews

Police boost won’t cut crime alone​

Rory Stewart’s cri de coeur is one, I would imagine, most Londoners support [“‘I’ll treble number of local police to beat crime ’ says Stewart”, January 22].

However, increasing police numbers is only part of the solution to combatting rising crime. We constantly hear that the justice system and prison services are in disarray after years of cuts. There’s little point in catching more law breakers if there aren’t the resources to deal effectively with them.
Peter Knipe

We need honest meat labelling​

Julian Glover correctly says that eating the right meat will help to reverse the loss of biodiversity , but how does the consumer know what this is [January 24]? A big step forward would be to get some honest labelling rules in place. At the moment meat and dairy products can be described as “grass-fed” if the animal was just fed predominantly grass. The remaining amount often includes cereals and probably soya.

The Pasture-Fed Livestock Association is an organisation with more than 570 members — mainly farmers who are rearing their cattle and sheep from pasture and forage only. This brings the environmental benefits that Mr Glover is talking about, but also health benefits, as grain-free products are higher in omega-3s, cancer-fighting fatty acids, and other vitamins and minerals essential to good human health.

We are calling on the Government to ensure there is a proper legal definition of the terms “grass-fed” and “grain-free”.
Fidelity Weston, Chair, Pasture-Fed Livestock Association