This statement comes after the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced plans to integrate facial recognition into access control systems at government buildings. South Korea’s human rights watchdog has urged the country’s National Assembly and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to halt plans to introduce facial recognition technology in the public sector until there’s appropriate legislation to protect the rights of citizens. “If the state collects, retains and utilizes a wide range of people’s face information without any special control, it can track and monitor specific individuals, violating their freedom and privacy of personal life,” the watchdog said.
South Korean Government’s Plans for Real-time Facial Recognition
South Korea’s interior ministry plans to link “mobile civil servant ID cards with the facial recognition technology,” the Korea JoongAng Daily news portal said Wednesday. This may ultimately give way to a contactless access control system. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety first announced plans to implement facial recognition technology in government buildings during the height of the Covid pandemic in December 2020. At the time, officials said it would minimize face-to-face contact and allow for contactless temperature checks. The government launched a trial run in three buildings in Sejong, the country’s administrative capital. South Korea’s government has shown strong interest in facial recognition technology recently. In December 2021, the country introduced a pilot program in the city of Bucheon where authorities attempted to use facial recognition technology and artificial intelligence to track the movement of Covid patients. Also, in 2021, civil advocacy groups criticized the government following revelations that authorities shared about 100 million photos of foreign nationals who traveled through the country’s airport with facial recognition companies. This was part of efforts to develop an immigration screening system that would primarily depend on artificial intelligence.
What is Real-Time Facial Recognition?
Real-time facial recognition compares data from a face scan with existing data in a database. It can be used to identify individuals quickly, even from a distance. There’s an ongoing debate about facial recognition and privacy. In certain nations like China, facial recognition is accepted as the norm. However, the use of facial recognition will be more difficult in countries or regions with strong privacy laws, like the European Union (EU) In 2020, Eric Golman, the co-director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University, warned that the use of this technology could be a dangerous affair. “The weaponization possibilities are endless. Imagine a rogue law enforcement officer who wants to stalk potential romantic partners, or a foreign government using this to dig up secrets about people to blackmail them or throw them in jail,” Golman said. In July 2021, the European Parliament called for a ban on the use of private facial recognition databases by law enforcement. Meanwhile, in August 2022, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that it would stop using facial recognition technology to verify US taxpayers’ identities. As we gravitate toward smart cities, the use of facial recognition technology is likely going to become more ubiquitous. For in-depth information about facial recognition and your rights, check out our guide to facial recognition and privacy.
