New Biometrics Laws Urgently Needed, UK Review Finds

An item in the BBC News technology section reports that laws governing biometric technologies are urgently needed, according to an independent legal review led by Matthew Ryder QC ¹.

Biometric data includes faces, fingerprints, voices, DNA profiles, and other measurements related to the body. Technologies using this data, such as live facial recognition, are increasingly common.

But the Ryder Review found rules in England and Wales were fragmented, unclear and had not kept up with technology. Biometric technologies, it noted, previously used almost exclusively in policing, are now used by a growing number of private and public organisations, including employers, schools and shops.

More novel tools such as gait analysis, which looks at distinctive features of how people walk, or key-stroke analysis, based on how people type, are also being deployed.