The Times view on facial recognition technology: Surveillance State

A camera pans across a crowded shopping centre. Officers sitting in a van parked outside scan the footage using computer software that matches the faces of individuals going about their ordinary business against a database of people wanted by the police. A match is made. An arrest follows. The surveillance state has another victory.

This is no longer the stuff of science fiction. It is increasingly the reality of modern-day policing. Such use of facial recognition technology naturally conjures up George Orwell’s Big Brother. The eyes of the state pry everywhere, and the long arm of the law can now reach into places previously far beyond it.

After trials elsewhere in the UK, Police Scotland are interested in using facial recognition technology to catch criminals