Facewatch Gets UK Code of Practice Certification for Live Retail Facial Recognition

By Chris Burt

Facewatch’s live facial recognition for retail theft prevention has been declared compliant with the UK’s Surveillance Camera Code of Practice (SCCP), the company has announced.

The compliance certification was awarded by the Office of the Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner, Professor Fraser Sampson. The recognition is valid until March of 2024, and reflects adherence to the SCCP, as judged by the Security Systems and Alarms Inspections Board (SSAIB).

The company says it takes privacy protections, compliance with the law and the Code very seriously.

“The award of this certification underlines our commitment to best practice, both to prevent crime and protect staff and customers,” comments Facewatch Chairman Nick Fisher. “The public and our subscribers can continue to have confidence in our systems and safeguards.”

The certification also comes on the heels of Founder Simon Gordon telling Biometric Update that the company is no longer installing Hikvision cameras as part of its retail biometrics solution.

“By successfully engaging with the professional accreditation bodies and my certification scheme, an organisation, and more importantly the public, may be reassured that surveillance camera systems which intrude upon their privacy are being demonstrably operated ethically and legitimately to an appropriate standard,” says Sampson in the announcement.

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“The certification scheme goes above and beyond the basic requirements of data protection and is designed, as is the government’s Surveillance Camera Code, to enable operators of surveillance camera systems to make legitimate use of available technology in a way that the public would rightly expect and to a standard that maintains public trust and confidence. I acknowledge your excellent and most commendable commitment in that regard arising from your engagement with this process.”

There were 103 entities certified under the SCCP as of mid-2021.

Source: Biometric Update

Chris Burt is the editor of Biometric Update. He has also written nonfiction about information technology, dramatic arts, sports culture, and fantasy basketball, as well as fiction about a doomed astronaut. He lives in Toronto. You can follow him on Twitter @AFakeChrisBurt.

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