- The European Union wants to save the facial data of those who visit its Member States and who do not belong to them as an alternative to the fingerprint.
- China distributes smart pens in schools to spy on what students write.
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| Facial recognition will apply to citizens of countries outside the European Union. / Unsplash |
Europe places facial recognition systems on its borders: this is why
The European Union (EU) is installing facial recognition systems at the borders of all member countries. This technology will be used to collect biometric data from people who come from territories outside the Schengen area.
Until now, fingerprints were only taken from individuals who came from outside. In this way, they contrasted said data in real-time with the people indicated by the local and community authorities.
However, facial data will also be analyzed shortly. The information collected with this technology will be stored in a huge database managed by the European Commission and accessible to all EU Member States.
Facial recognition is just as reliable as fingerprints but also does not require the collaboration of the subject. These systems only collect data from digital images of individuals' faces and analyze their facial features, which do not vary with age, thanks to artificial intelligence algorithms.
The placement of facial recognition systems at the borders is expected to be completed before the end of the year so that they can begin to be used. Meanwhile, some activists, politicians, and technologists have shown their rejection of this measure, since they consider that it can discriminate against and criminalize some immigrants.
The tests that were carried out in Spain
In 2021, a recognition system was installed in La Línea de la Concepción (Cádiz) as a pilot test and, according to the Ministry of the Interior, the balance "has been positive". With the EU project, others are being installed in the rest of the Spanish borders that are assuming an investment of around 20 million euros.
The technology that the European Union is going to use at its borders is from the Paris-based companies IDEMIA and Sopra Steria. Both companies, which have already collaborated previously, assured in 2020 that the project would meet "the identification needs of the new European Entry and Exit System, thus being the cornerstone of the protection of European borders".
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