The United States used the telecommunications industry as a weapon to carry out mass surveillance.Photo: Getty Images
Are we rushing to introduce Garda body cams and facial recognition technology? How does it work? And is there a risk that they will profile us?
On this week’s episode of The Big Tech Show, Adrian spoke to Fine Gael Senator Barry Ward, a practicing criminal defense lawyer and deputy chair of the Judiciary Committee.
Earlier this month, An Garda Síochána made a €2.1 million bid for body cameras to be fitted to Garda uniforms. This is designed as a test batch or “proof of concept” to see how it works in practice.
Adrian began by asking whether facial recognition technology would lead to a dystopian society or whether it would help prosecute crimes. Senator Ward highlighted that while facial recognition technology is already in use in Ireland, it may not be used by law enforcement.
This technology is currently used for biometric authentication in passports and is also used by the Irish Department of Social Protection. The politician argued that this is not new, but rather expands the use of the new system.
Gardaí hope to have trials of body cameras in operation by the summer, limited to a small number of Garda stations in Dublin, Limerick and Waterford.
You can listen to the entire episode here or wherever you get your podcasts.