FACIAL RECOGNITION IN THE MODERN STATE
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