The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) called on Monday to toughen a legislative proposal from Brussels on the regulation of artificial intelligence, asking for the total ban of systems for the automatic recognition of individuals in public places.
“In view of the extremely high risks posed by the remote biometric identification of people in spaces accessible to the public, the EDPS calls for a general ban on any use of artificial intelligence for the automated recognition of human characteristics in accessible spaces to the public, ”the independent privacy authority said in a statement.
This includes systems for "recognition of faces, gait, fingerprints, DNA, voice, (…) and other biometric or behavioral signals, whatever the context".
But this opinion, formulated on behalf of the 27 data protection authorities of the EU member states, including the CNIL in France, remains purely advisory.
A text not restrictive enough?
The European Commission proposed a principle ban on these technologies, in a legislative draft published on April 21, but this ban is accompanied by exceptions to facilitate the work of the police, for example in the search for a missing child, for prevent an imminent terrorist threat or to find the perpetrator of a serious crime.
Elected officials and NGOs have already felt that this text was not restrictive enough.
The proposal “opens the door to generalized surveillance under the guise of public security,” notably denounced the environmental MEP, the French David Cormand.
The draft legislation aims to limit the possible drifts in the use of artificial intelligence and to reassure the population, worried about the risk of "Big Brother", to allow the development of these technologies based on software and data, considered crucial for the future of the European economy.
The EU plans to put on the table one billion euros per year to support this sector, generating a total of 20 billion euros in investments over the next decade.
The text still has to be debated for months with the European Parliament and the Member States.