On December 8, European Union (EU) managed to sign the first arrangement integral artificial intelligence (AI). The political agreement was described by negotiators as a “historic” milestone, but civil society organizations warned at the time that there were many important technical issues to be resolved. And the devil is in the details.
A month later and with the law still pending, weekly ‘Politico’ has accessed an internal document that would have authorized the “irresponsible and disproportionate” use of this information. technology such as biometric identification face recognition. German MP Svenja Hahn denounced that this loophole, which was not included in the original agreement, amounted to “an attack on Europe”. human rights (…) as we only know from authoritarian states Chinese“.
Legal text prepared by the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the Council on 22 December EU led to the banning of these systems biometric surveillance in real time. However, the door is also opened for exceptions police And army can use this controversial technology through legal authorization to prevent threats such as terrorism, murder anyone rape.
As Hahn explains, last-minute changes to European regulations will allow law enforcement to use this dangerous technology “on (pre-existing) video recordings without a judge’s approval, going beyond what is accepted by the three law enforcement agencies.” EU”.
police pressure
The leaked document, available to El Periódico de Catalunya from Grupo Prensa Ibérica, shows that only the approval of the administrative authority is required. This will accelerate the use of identification systems through tracking. biometric dataPhysical patterns unique to each person, such as fingerprints, iris or facial features.
“We heard that the change was being strongly pressed by representatives of law enforcement agencies, especially in France,” explains Ella Jakubowska, senior policy advisor at the European Digital Rights platform. “Governments of EU member states have been unable to accept the agreement, arguing that a retroactive facial recognition agreement would be more restrictive than a real-time facial recognition agreement and would prevent them from carrying out day-to-day police work.”
“It has no place in democracy”
European negotiators have been preparing the detailed text of the famous new regulations for weeks. This Friday, the European Commission, the European Parliament and representatives of the Member States will meet again to discuss what obligations have been imposed on the EU. artificial intelligence Like facial recognition, it is considered “high risk”. Although the European Parliament requested Forbidden Overall, governments of 27 countries managed to reduce their demands.
Denouncing the weakening of protections, the civil movement ReclaimYourFace said: “Biometric mass surveillance practices are error-prone and risky by design and have no place in a democratic society.” privacy.
In September last year, more than a hundred European organizations condemned the use of artificial intelligence to control immigration. limits The EU “disproportionately targets already excluded communities, undermines legal and procedural rights, and mass surveillance“.
EU governments are expected to receive the final text of the AI law next Wednesday, January 24, with a view to approving it on February 2. Even so, the deal must pass Parliament for approval, where lawmakers have one last chance to introduce changes.