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500k facial scans at UK stations yield no arrests, 1 false positive

518 points · 305 comments · ilamont

  1. ungreased0675 · · focus · HN ↗
    I’m very against this type of pervasive surveillance, but that number seems implausible. The police may have only loaded a small group of suspects into the system, only targeted specific individuals, or some other reason we’re not aware of. The police protecting some criminals wouldn’t be a departure from standard practice in the UK.
    1. p-e-w · · focus · HN ↗
      That was my first thought. They scanned roughly 1% of the UK’s population. No way they didn’t identify any wanted criminals unless the set of wanted criminals scanned for was only a tiny fraction of the overall list.
      1. flumpcakes · · focus · HN ↗
        "Scanned" faces in this instance isn't unique people.

        500,000 individual checks could have been for the same person. While that is extremely unlikely, it's also unlikely they scanned 500,000 unique people.

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