Police to Use Facial Scanners to Identify Rioters

Rights groups say that doing so infringes on citizens' privacy rights.

B.C.'s provincial insurer and police will use facial-recognition technology to help track down looters responsible for the millions in damage caused during last week's post-Stanley Cup riots. The province's privacy commissioner gave the OK to the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia to use the technology, which compares footage from hundreds of videos and photos taken during the riot with a police database to identify offenders. A handful of rioters have already apologized or turned themselves in, but relying on altruism and changes of heart is hardly a useful way to bring them to justice. The collusion between the ICBC and the Vancouver Police to use the facial-recognition technology has drawn the ire of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, which says it is a breach of privacy.

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