Critics say Fraser Samson hiring is ‘outrageous conflict of interest’ as monitoring technology is rolled out in UK high streets

The recently-departed watchdog in charge of monitoring facial recognition technology has joined the private firm he controversially approved, paving the way for the mass roll-out of biometric surveillance cameras in high streets across the country.

In a move critics have dubbed an “outrageous conflict of interest”, Professor Fraser Sampson, former biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner, has joined Facewatch as a non-executive director.

Sampson left his watchdog role on 31 October, with Companies House records showing he was registered as a company director at Facewatch the following day, 1 November. Campaigners claim this might mean he was negotiating his Facewatch contract while in post, and have urged the advisory committee on business appointments to investigate if it may have “compromised his work in public office”. It is understood that the committee is currently considering the issue.

  • crapwittyname@lemm.eeEnglish
    25·
    7 months ago

    Now-corrupt UK Government Continues to be Corrupt.

    The UK government continues to be a corrupt version of itself, maintaining the veneer of honest public service only through blatant, continuous and disheartening lies. The British public are no longer surprised by these revelations, having become desensitised to this sort of thing over the past decade. The only surprising revelations would now be cases where an elected official were to resign if caught with their hands in the biscuit tin, rather than claiming that:

    • it wasn’t me
    • the biscuits are for me to take
    • there is no biscuit tin
    • my stealing biscuits is in the public interest
    • it’s your fault I had to take biscuits

    Or some such bollocks, all while continuing to stuff their faces with Hobnobs in front of our eyes.

    Politicians have always been awful, but the lot we’ve got now are worse than any in living memory.

  • perviouslyiner@lemm.eeEnglish
    8·
    7 months ago

    Do you want to be featured in Private Eye? Because this is how you get featured in Private Eye.

  • spacecowboy@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    92·
    7 months ago

    They can’t hide the cables that power these. I encourage everyone to learn how to open davit doors (streetlight standards, pedestals, etc). Carry a couple pairs of nitrile gloves in your pocket for safety reasons. It’s flu season too; wear a mask if you feel ill.

    • charlytune@mander.xyzEnglish
      6·
      7 months ago

      I still hold that a lot of the anti mask conspiracy theories were fuelled by those who have financial and political interests in facial recognition surveillance. I have no evidence to base this on, it just makes sense to me that they would be threatened by everyone suddenly masking up.

    • qdJzXuisAndVQb2@lemm.eeEnglish
      1·
      7 months ago

      I can’t find helpful/relevant results when I search for davit doors, or even just Davit. Could you give me some other keywords to read up on?

        • qdJzXuisAndVQb2@lemm.eeEnglish
          1·
          7 months ago

          I don’t think that’s what a davit is, tbh. It refers to the shape of the pole itself, but not any type of locking mechanism on whatever type of security is in place on whatever type of access/inspection door has been fitted.

          Edit to add: I found good results searching for a Knipex universal key and going from there.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    3·
    7 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    The recently-departed watchdog in charge of monitoring facial recognition technology has joined the private firm he controversially approved, paving the way for the mass roll-out of biometric surveillance cameras in high streets across the country.

    Facewatch uses biometric cameras to check faces against a watch list and, despite widespread concern over the technology, has received backing from the Home Office, and has already been introduced in hundreds of high-street shops and supermarkets.

    Mark Johnson, advocacy manager at Big Brother Watch, said the hiring of Sampson painted a “murky picture.” He added: “It cannot be acceptable for those in taxpayer-paid oversight roles to negotiate contracts with the very companies they scrutinise while still in post.”

    However, Sampson said that after the government proposed abolishing his post, he wrote publicly to the home secretary on 1 August, giving three months’ notice, after which he received a formal approach to join Facewatch.

    In March this year, Sampson awarded Facewatch its certification mark for meeting all requirements of the surveillance camera code of practice specifically for the use of live facial recognition.

    Big Brother Watch pointed out that Sampson’s decision to certify Facewatch came during an investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office which had “identified various areas of concern” over the use of people’s personal data.

    The original article contains 610 words, the summary contains 212 words. Saved 65%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!