Met to expand use of live facial recognition into central London by Christmas
London's Metropolitan Police will deploy live facial recognition cameras in the West End before the end of the year, with plans to extend the technology to six additional areas in 2025. Unlike earlier mobile setups, the new cameras will be fixed to street furniture, scanning crowds continuously.
Why this matters: Fixed cameras are a different thing from mobile ones. A van that shows up occasionally is an event. A camera bolted to a lamp-post is infrastructure. It runs all the time, on everyone, without anyone choosing to participate. Every person walking through central London becomes part of a live identity check they never agreed to. That is not a targeted investigation. It is a standing dragnet. The 'digital police lineup' framing from critics is accurate: suspicion is no longer the starting point. Presence is.
Who should care: Privacy officers · Cybersecurity · General readers · Policy
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