{"id":3674,"date":"2026-01-21T12:43:47","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T12:43:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ascnet.ie\/inclusion4eu-website\/?p=3674"},"modified":"2026-01-21T12:46:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T12:46:11","slug":"facial-recognition-technology-in-public-spaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ascnet.ie\/inclusion4eu-website\/facial-recognition-technology-in-public-spaces\/","title":{"rendered":"Facial Recognition Technology in Public Spaces"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"3674\" class=\"elementor elementor-3674\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-346e8d0 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"346e8d0\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-bb4eb87\" data-id=\"bb4eb87\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d0e0951 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"d0e0951\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Facial_Recognition_Technology_in_Public_Spaces\"><\/span>Facial Recognition Technology in Public Spaces<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-223e85e elementor-widget elementor-widget-spacer\" data-id=\"223e85e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"spacer.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer-inner\"><\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-db1cc8e elementor-icon-list--layout-inline elementor-align-end elementor-list-item-link-full_width elementor-widget elementor-widget-icon-list\" data-id=\"db1cc8e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"icon-list.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"elementor-icon-list-items elementor-inline-items\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item elementor-inline-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<i aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"fas fa-hashtag\"><\/i>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-text\">Exclusion<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-inner-section elementor-element elementor-element-f2f3ea6 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"f2f3ea6\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-inner-column elementor-element elementor-element-7987feb\" data-id=\"7987feb\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-9cb657e elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"9cb657e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Who_does_this_case_study_involve\"><\/span>Who does this case study involve?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1bdecc1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"1bdecc1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>Members of ethnic minority communities in urban environments<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-inner-column elementor-element elementor-element-40c5858\" data-id=\"40c5858\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-de321f8 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"de321f8\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/ascnet.ie\/inclusion4eu-website\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/undraw_People_re_8spw-150x150.png\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-image-2394\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-079998d elementor-widget elementor-widget-spacer\" data-id=\"079998d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"spacer.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer-inner\"><\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-86bddd6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"86bddd6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_case\"><\/span>The case<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3196c89 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"3196c89\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p data-start=\"442\" data-end=\"889\">Facial recognition technology is increasingly used in public spaces such as airports, shopping centres, and city streets, often justified as a tool for improving security and efficiency. These systems analyse facial features captured by cameras and compare them against large databases to identify individuals. While promoted as neutral and objective, evidence suggests that these technologies perform unevenly across different demographic groups.<\/p><p data-start=\"442\" data-end=\"889\">\u00a0<\/p><p data-start=\"891\" data-end=\"1482\">Multiple independent studies have shown that facial recognition systems have significantly higher error rates for people from ethnic minority backgrounds, particularly women with darker skin tones. In some cities where facial recognition has been trialled by law enforcement, individuals from minority groups were disproportionately flagged as potential suspects. These false positives led to increased surveillance, questioning, and emotional distress for those affected. Researchers have linked these issues to unbalanced training datasets that contain far fewer images of non-white faces.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-698e978 elementor-widget-divider--view-line elementor-widget elementor-widget-divider\" data-id=\"698e978\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"divider.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-divider\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-divider-separator\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-871917a elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"871917a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Findings\"><\/span>Findings<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e365a49 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"e365a49\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p data-start=\"2069\" data-end=\"2464\">This case illustrates how technological systems can reproduce and amplify existing social inequalities when diversity is not adequately considered during design and deployment. The findings emphasise the need for representative datasets, rigorous testing across demographic groups, and clear legal and ethical safeguards. Without these measures, facial recognition technologies risk reinforcing racial profiling and social exclusion in public spaces.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-acd4a69 elementor-widget-divider--view-line elementor-widget elementor-widget-divider\" data-id=\"acd4a69\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"divider.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-divider\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-divider-separator\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f67c2a5 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"f67c2a5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"References\"><\/span>References<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-349ad5e elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"349ad5e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Buolamwini, J. and Gebru, T. (2018) \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/proceedings.mlr.press\/v81\/buolamwini18a\/buolamwini18a.pdf\">Gender shades: Intersectional accuracy disparities in commercial gender classification<\/a>\u201d, <em data-start=\"2094\" data-end=\"2136\">Proceedings of Machine Learning Research<\/em>, 81, pp. 1\u201315.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Facial Recognition Technology in Public Spaces Exclusion Who does this case study involve? Members of ethnic minority communities in urban environments The case Facial recognition technology is increasingly used in public spaces such as airports, shopping centres, and city streets, often justified as a tool for improving security and efficiency. These systems analyse facial features [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"zakra_sidebar_layout":"customizer","zakra_remove_content_margin":false,"zakra_sidebar":"customizer","zakra_transparent_header":"customizer","zakra_logo":0,"zakra_main_header_style":"default","zakra_menu_item_color":"","zakra_menu_item_hover_color":"","zakra_menu_item_active_color":"","zakra_menu_active_style":"","zakra_page_header":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascnet.ie\/inclusion4eu-website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascnet.ie\/inclusion4eu-website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascnet.ie\/inclusion4eu-website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascnet.ie\/inclusion4eu-website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascnet.ie\/inclusion4eu-website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3674"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ascnet.ie\/inclusion4eu-website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3678,"href":"https:\/\/ascnet.ie\/inclusion4eu-website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3674\/revisions\/3678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascnet.ie\/inclusion4eu-website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascnet.ie\/inclusion4eu-website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascnet.ie\/inclusion4eu-website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}