Last week, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued a ruling about the use of facial recognition technology against protesters in Russia. The case (Glukhin v Russia) involved the arrest of a protester who was travelling on the Moscow underground. The ECHR ruled that using facial recognition to locate and arrest the protester was a violation of his right to privacy and freedom of expression. The decision sets an important precedent for the use of facial recognition technology in future protests and demonstrations. Law firm Cloisters has provided a legal analysis of the case and outlined the implications for the UK.
In a statement welcoming the ECHR's decision. Barbora Bukovská, Senior Director for Law and Policy at international human rights organisation Article 19, said: "The use of facial recognition and other biometric technologies represents one of the greatest threats to fundamental rights in the digital age. These technologies constitute a threat to the right to privacy and anonymity and have a strong “chilling effect” on the rights to freedom of expression. If governments can use biometric technologies to quash any form of dissent and if people know they are being watched, they are less likely to express themselves freely in public spaces and might not choose to exercise their rights."
What is this page?
You are reading a summary article on the Privacy Newsfeed, a free resource for DPOs and other professionals with privacy or data protection responsibilities helping them stay informed of industry news all in one place. The information here is a brief snippet relating to a single piece of original content or several articles about a common topic or thread. The main contributor is listed in the top left-hand corner, just beneath the article title.
The Privacy Newsfeed monitors over 300 global publications, of which more than 4,350 summary articles have been posted to the online archive dating back to the beginning of 2020. A weekly roundup is available by email every Friday.
