Italy Interior ministry’s facial recognition system ruled unlawful
Italy's privacy regulator said the SARI Real-time facial recognition system used by the country's Interior ministry was illegal on the basis that it lacked a legal basis for processing biometric data . Italy’s data protection authority, the Garante, issued an opinion that the Ministry of the Interior’s use of Sari Real-time failed to comply with EU privacy legislation. The authority also said it created 'a form of indiscriminate mass surveillance.' SARI Real-time uses cameras installed in a particular geographical area and is capable of scanning individuals’ faces in real-time. These images are then compared with an Italian government watch-list database of up to 10,000 faces. The database is available to law enforcement upon request. The banning of SARI Real-time coincided with #ReclaimyourFace , a campaign by European rights organisation the EDRi calling for the banning of biometric mass surveillance across Europe. System 🤖 SARI Operator: Developer: P arsec 3.26/ Reco 3.26 Country: Italy Sector: Govt - police Purpose: Streng then law enforcement Technology: Facial recognition Issue: Privacy; Tr ansparency Legal, regulatory 👩🏼⚖️ Il Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali (2021). Opinion on Sari Real Time System [9575877]
- Date it happened
- 2021-01-01
- Organisation involved
- Polizia di Stato
- Product, system or model
- SARI Real-Time
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