FACIAL RECOGNITION IN THE MODERN STATE

FACIAL RECOGNITION IN THE MODERN STATE

Start Date
9:00 am - 6:00 pm
Location
Online event

This international conference aims to provide a platform for socio-legal discussion around government use of FRT.

From border control to policing and welfare, governments are using automated facial recognition technology (FRT) to collect taxes, prevent crime, police cities and control immigration. FRT involves processing of a person’s facial image, typically for verification, identification, categorisation or counting. Concerns around an increased use of live automated FRT in airports, train stations and city streets across the globe have led many NGOs, local municipalities and legislators in Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific to call for regulation or even outright bans on FRT use. However, regulatory solutions lag behind.

A facial image is a biometric that can be collected from a distance, and without the person’s knowledge or consent. Academics thus have largely focused on the privacy implications of FRT, often limited to a specific jurisdiction. However, FRT use raises concerns that go well beyond privacy. The increasing use of FRT in public spaces changes the balance of power between governments and their populations: it enables the state to locate and identify individuals in seconds without the significant human resources needed in traditional policing or migration. It can thus impact on political protests, undermine due process and equal protection.

This international conference and Cambridge Handbook on Facial Recognition in the Modern State (CUP, 2024) aims to provide a platform for socio-legal discussion around government use of FRT across domestic and regional jurisdictions in Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Africa. Is FRT a legitimate tool to ensure public safety and security? Or is it a surveillance infrastructure, undermining fundamental rights and the rule of law? The conference and Cambridge Handbook will explore whether and how the answers to these questions differ among liberal democracies, and how democracies compare to authoritarian regimes in six different continents. Building on cultural and legal differences and common trends, the presenters will discuss possible future directions in regulating governments’ use of FRT at national, regional and international levels.

More information can be found in the conference page here:

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

*Times in UTC+2 /CEST

 

9.00-10.00 WELCOME AND KEYNOTE ADDRESSES

Welcome and Introduction

Organising Committee, Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences, Lithuania

Keynote Address

Mark Andrejevic, Monash University, Australia

Keynote Address

Orla Lynskey, London School of Economics, UK

 

10.00-11.00 PANEL 1: SOCIAL AND TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF FRT

FRT: Key Issues and Emerging Concerns

Chris O’Neill, Monash University, Australia

History and Development of FRT: Science and Technology Perspective

Simon Taylor, UNSW Sydney, Australia

FRT 101: Technical Insights

Ali Akbari, KPMG, Australia

 

11.00 -12.40 PANEL 2: LEGAL & SOCIETAL CHALLENGES OF FRT

In Search of Transparent and Explainable FRT

Rita Matulionyte, Macquarie University, Australia, and Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences, Lithuania

FRT and Privacy: Some Conceptual Problems

Jake Goldenfein, University of Melbourne, Australia

Discrimination and Bias in FRT

Monique Mann, Deakin University, Australia

Marcus Smith, Charles Sturt University, Australia

Eroding Political Protests: FRT and Public Space Surveillance

Monika Zalnieriute, UNSW Sydney, Australia, and Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences, Lithuania

Faces of War: Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine and Military Use of FRT

Agne Limante, Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences, Lithuania

 

12.40-1.00 LUNCH BREAK

 

1:00-2.00 PANEL 3: ASIA-PACIFIC PERSPECTIVES TO FRT REGULATION

Regulating FRT in China

Jyh-An Lee, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR and

Peng Zhou, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR

Power, Control, and the Rule of Law: Regulating FRT in Taiwan

Ching-Fu Lin, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan

Yi-Shyuan Chiang, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA

Principled Government Use of FRT: A View from Australia and New Zealand

Nessa Lynch, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

 

2.00-2.30 KEYNOTE ADDRESS

FRT and the Renegotiation of Public and Private Space

Milton Mueller, Georgia Tech, USA

 

2.30-3.30 PANEL 4: FRT IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Government Use of FRT under European Law

Simone Kuhlmann, Hamburg University, Germany and

Hans-Heinrich Trute, Hamburg University, Germany

Time for Hard Bans in the EU: Failed Attempts and Promising FRT Initiatives

Paul de Hert, Free University of Brussels, Belgium, and University Tilburg, the Netherlands, and

Georgios Bouchagiar, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, and Free University of Brussels, Belgium

Privacy, the EU AI Act and Police Use of FRT in European Jurisprudence

Nora Ni Loideain, University of London, UK

 

3.30-3.40 COFFEE BREAK

 

3.40-4.30 PANEL 5: FRT IN EUROPEAN JURISDICTIONS

FRT, Power and Government in Germany

Andreas Engel, Heidelberg University, Germany

Testing the Limits of Democracy: The Regulation of FRT in the UK

Giulia Gentile, London School of Economics, UK

FRT Regulation in Eastern Europe: A Case Study of Lithuania

Egle Kavoliunaite-Ragauskiene, Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences, Lithuania

 

4.30-5.30 PANEL 6: GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES TO FRT

Challenges in Regulating FRT in the USA

Justin (Gus) Hurwitz, University of Nebraska, USA

Regulating FRT in Brazil: Legal and Policy Perspectives

Walter Britto Gaspar, Fundação Getulio Vargas, Brazil

Nicolo Zingales, Fundação Getulio Vargas, Brazil

Digital Surveillance, FRT and Human Rights in Morocco

Sylvia I. Bergh, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands

 

5.30 CLOSING REMARKS

 

CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

Conference papers will be published in Cambridge Handbook on Facial Recognition in the Modern State (edited by R. Matulionyte and M. Zalnieriute, Cambridge University Press 2024) in Open Access.

ORANIZING COMMITTEE

Rita Matulionyte – Macquarie University / Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Science

Agne Limante – Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences

Egle Kavoliunaite-Ragauskiene – Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences

Monika Zalnieriute – UNSW Sydney / Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences

SPONSOR

This conference is part of the project ‘Government Use of Facial Recognition Technologies: Legal Challenges and Solutions’ (FaceAI), funded by Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT) S-MIP-21-38.

CONFERENCE HOSTS AND CO-HOSTS

Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences, Lithuania (main host)

UNSW Sydney, Australia

Macquarie University, Australia

London School of Economics, UK

Georgia Tech, USA

Allens Hub for Technology, Law and Innovation, UNSW Sydney, Australia

Centre for Law in the Digital Transformation at the University of Hamburg, Germany

ARC Centre of Excellence Automated Decision-Making and Society