Definitely Not Authoritarian: Britain to Introduce Facial Recognition App for Government Services

The British government will introduce a facial recognition app for citizens to access a range of public services after already introducing the technology for its coronavirus vaccine passport app.

The new gov.uk app, which is expected to be introduced late next year, will enable citizens to access over 300 government services through their smartphones. The app will either use facial recognition or fingerprint scanning to verify the user.

The government is also planning to use the app to push notifications to citizens concerning changes such as the need for renewal of their driver’s licence or changes to state benefits.

Stephen Barclay, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and the recently installed head of the Cabinet Office, said that the pandemic has changed expectations from the public on accessing services digitally.

“During the pandemic, people have had to interact with government services in a variety of new ways, including the NHS app and the vaccine booking service,” he said per The Tele*.

“People rightly expect government to be data-driven and digitally literate, and this will be a priority for me in my new role,” he added.

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