Three in five Britons fear being wrongly caught by 'Big Brother' facial recognition tech

More than three in five Britons fear being wrongly implicated by "Big Brother" facial recognition technology, a bombshell new survey has revealed.

The polling - conducted by by independent market research agency Opinium - probed the British public on their views of live facial recognition (LFR) technology amid Labour's push to roll it out to all police forces nationwide.

Currently, 13 police forces across England and Wales either use or are trialling LFR.

But the Government recently announced 40 new police vans equipped with the cameras would be deployed in town centres to help tackle rising anti-social behaviour on the high street.

Crime and Policing Minister Sarah Jones described the technology as "the biggest breakthrough for catching criminals since DNA matching".

But Britons remain conflicted - with the survey finding that 69 per cent of the public believe they should have a say on how its rolled out across the country.

Concerns around the reliability of the technology and data privacy also emerged as key issues.

Some 61 per cent of respondents say they fear errors could lead to them wrongly implicated in "incidents", Opinium found.

Meanwhile, over half (57 per cent) said they harbour concerns surrounding how images of their face would be stored.

The polling also revealed a considerable sense of unease among Britons over the technology's implications on wider society.

Around 57 per cent say they believe it represents a step towards a surveillance state - while 54 per cent reported feeling LFR gives them an eerie sense that “Big Brother” is constantly watching over them.

However, despite these fears, not all attitudes were negative.

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Some 54 per cent agreed that those who have not committed a crime should not worry about police forces using the technology.

The Opinium survey was commissioned by biometric security firm Face Int and polled 2,000 British adults.

Face Int CEO Tony Kounnis said: “These findings show that public concern around facial recognition is not abstract or ideological.

"People are worried about very specific issues - whether the technology can make mistakes, how their data is stored and used, and what it means in the context of wider surveillance."

“That matters for organisations using the technology. It means the conversation cannot stop at whether the technology works.

"There needs to be clear justification for its use, transparency around how it is deployed, and strong safeguards in place to protect individuals and their data.

“Just as importantly, there is a clear expectation from the public to have a say in how facial recognition is used.

"Organisations need to recognise that and engage with it, rather than treat it as a purely technical or operational decision.”

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