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British police secretly search passport database with facial recognition

British police are searching passport and immigration databases with facial recognition software. This was recently announced by civil rights movements Privacy International and Big Brother Watch.

Information Security Netherlands Aug. 11, 2025

News press release

News press release

The civil rights movements base their case on information obtained through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request: the British version of the Dutch Open Government Act (Woo). The organizations claim that over the past six years, the British government has allowed police forces to search 150 million photographs from passport and immigration databases with facial recognition software. Police searched the passport database twice in 2020, and 417 times in 2023. The immigration database was searched 16 times in 2023, 102 times in 2024.

Biometric scans

According to Privacy International and Big Brother Watch, the authorities do not have a clear legal basis for this. Moreover, the database searches are taking place without informing the public or parliament. With each search, tens of millions of photos would likely be biometrically scanned.

Click here for Privacy International's message.

Click here for Big Brother Watch's message.

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