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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Technology
Daniel Boffey Chief reporter

Police to be able to run face recognition searches on 50m driving licence holders

Facial recognition technology in operation in Leicester Square. A law change being quietly introduced by the government will allow police to run facial recognition searches on a database containing images of Britain’s 50m driving licence holders
A law change being quietly introduced will allow police to run facial recognition searches on a database containing images of Britain’s 50m driving licence holders. Photograph: PA Images/Alamy

The police will be able to run facial recognition searches on a database containing images of Britain’s 50 million driving licence holders under a law change being quietly introduced by the government.

Should the police wish to put a name to an image collected on CCTV, or shared on social media, the legislation would provide them with the powers to search driving licence records for a match.

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