Despite criticism that current facial recognition software is biased against people of color, the RCMP is still interested in the technology, according to the head of the RCMP’s technical support team.
“We would be remiss if we did not look at what is happening in the world regarding the use of facial recognition by police departments,” Deputy Commissioner Bryan Larkin said in an interview with our colleagues at IT World Canada on Monday.
However, he said there must first be public debate and possibly legislative changes before the police service uses it again.
“As civil society, law enforcement professionals, these are discussions we should be having as we consider the future of technology. We should develop legislation, processes and uses of technology. »
Guided by recommendations from the Federal Privacy Commissioner following his 2021 investigation into the official and unofficial use of Clearview AI facial recognition software by a number of Canadian police forces, the RCMP has created a group technology review called the National Technology Integration Program, Larkin pointed out. It brings together experts to study and review the privacy impact of any deployment of new technologies acquired and deployed by the RCMP.
The RCMP was a paying customer of Clearview AI, one of 48 law enforcement agencies and other organizations that officially or unofficially used the software.
But after the federal privacy commissioner and three provincial privacy commissioners launched an investigation, Clearview agreed to stop providing its services in Canada. It stopped offering trial accounts to Canadian organizations and discontinued its services in July 2020.
Last year, the commissioners released a report concluding that Clearview’s capture of billions of images of Canadians from the Internet amounted to mass surveillance and a clear violation of their privacy rights.
French adaptation and translation by Renaud Larue-Langlois.