Ed Bridges is a civil liberties campaigner from Cardiff. In 2018, he launched a landmark legal challenge against South Wales Police’s use of automatic facial recognition technology. In August 2020, the Court of Appeal upheld his challenge and ruled that the police’s use of facial recognition was not lawful, in a major blow to the use of the technology by the state. Ed continues to campaign on matters around data privacy.
The growing use of artificial intelligence, machine learning and related technologies will have deep effects on the whole concept of privacy – but beyond the headlines, what does that actually mean in practice? What should organisations be considering when they invest in technology or use through third parties, in terms both the opportunities and unforeseen risks?