Police use of facial recognition called into question in Czechia

The Czech Office for Personal Data Protection is studying Czechia police forces’ use of facial recognition technology in an investigation that raises fresh concerns about privacy.

The Data Protection Authority is looking for more information from the police regarding their employment of facial recognition systems, which have been going through trials for nearly a year. Critically, the country’s data protection office was not involved in the police force’s testing phase of the new tech.

The controversial issue gained a higher public profile last month, when non-profit organisation Iuridicum Remedium (IuRe) brought scrutiny to the new system, named DOP (Digitálních podob osob). IuRe revealed that the system operates based on internal instructions from the Chief of Police – instructions that have not been made public. 

Supplied by Czech IT infrastructure company Autocont, the system has been operational since August of last year, according to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Access (FOIA) request. The system’s cost was 1,400,000 Czech korunas (around US$63,500), and while the supplier is identified, the maker of the facial recognition software remains undisclosed.

The facial recognition programming works using images sourced from government identity card and travel document databases. IuRe’s report has underlined how the technology could be employed for intrusive activities, including online monitoring. The Czech police, however, have cited Section 66a of the Police Act as justification for use, as it permits the retroactive comparison of images with those from ID databases and other government sources.

The police assert that the DPO system is deployed to retrospectively match faces from specific serious cases and to identify deceased individuals with unknown identities. Local legal experts argue that the biometric ID functions go beyond the scope of police legal authority – a point compounded by steady deployment of mass CCTV surveillance which experts say demand new laws even if facial recognition is used retroactively.

The Czech Pirate Party has moved into the debate also, adding to the pressure on the authorities to address the concerns. In response, the Czech Office for Personal Data Protection has stressed that it has been making efforts to take a new approach with the camera systems since April.