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Scotland Yard has banned the use of PimEyes facial recognition search engine after it was accessed thousands of times from Metropolitan Police computers.

Information received by i News and Liberty Investigates in response to a Freedom of Information (“FOI”) request showed that the PimEyes site, which is based in Tbilisi, Georgia, was visited from Metropolitan police computers 2,337 times over three months of this year.

The Met insisted that the 2,337 “hits” recorded on the search engine from its computers did not mean the site was accessed to carry out a facial recognition search and said that officers may have been researching PimEyes in light of recent controversy about the software.

The Met, along with other UK police forces, already has access to facial recognition software capable of matching images of suspects with official databases. But unlike those tools, PimEyes could be used by an officer or staff member without an official audit trail of searches or safeguards around which images are submitted.

The only facial recognition tools currently approved for use by the Met are restricted to watchlists of wanted people and their use is subject to approval by senior officers. But PimEyes offers an ability to search a far wider array of individuals by scanning the biometric details of up to three billion online images.

PimEyes, which was developed by two Polish students before being bought by its current owners, states that it uses a “reverse image search mechanism” enhanced by “face recognition technology” to allow users to upload photos of faces and locate where images of the same individual appear elsewhere online.  Privacy campaigners are concerned that it could be used by stalkers or to carry out surveillance.

MPs have warned that the technology is “invasive and dangerous” and called for it to be banned from open access.

In 2022, PimEyes owner Giorgi Gobronidze said that the onus of ethical responsibility lies with users, who he believes should only be using the tool to search for their own faces or for the faces of those who have provided express consent.

Gobronidze has pointed to how the tool has helped women locate and litigate against revenge porn. In a statement to i News, he said PimEyes “is designed solely to locate the sources that publish photographs” and that the firm “does not possess, nor does it utilise, any technology to identify living individuals.”

That assertion comes off as naive at best.

In this instance – as is increasingly true across use cases – law enforcement officials are using a biometric tool, PimEyes, that is not yet covered by formal regulations.

Former Conservative cabinet minister David Davis argues that “the police should only ever use tools that have been properly vetted, tested and approved for use. PimEyes is none of those.”

Digital rights group Big Brother Watch went further suggesting that “the information commissioner should step in to safeguard the British public from these Orwellian facial recognition tools.”

In a complaint filed with the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) in 2022, Big Brother Watch said the online facial recognition website is “unlawful” and enables surveillance and stalking “on a scale previously unimaginable.”

PimEyes denied the allegations and stressed that the company had taken several measures to reduce the risk of stalking and to protect users and the public.  However, it then pointed out that “PimEyes is not legally responsible for any violation of the terms and conditions of the website by the user and for any unlawful use of the search results, including stalking.”

A spokeswoman for the ICO said it had concluded its enquiries into PimEyes last year, adding: “Should any further information come to light or if complaints are reported to us, we will review this again.”

It is not only the police’s use of PimEyes that the public should be concerned about.  Last month, the UK government announced it is investing £55.5 million to expand the police’s use of facial recognition across the country as part of its crackdown on shoplifting and violence against retail staff. The package includes £4m for vans that will be deployed in high streets and towns across the country, which will be mounted with live facial recognition cameras.

Sources for this article include:

• UK police have used PimEyes facial recognition search tool over 2000 times, Biometric Update, 6 May 2024
• Met Police officers accessed controversial facial recognition site 2,000 times, i News, 6 May 2024

Featured image: Stalking fears over PimEyes facial search engine, BBC, 8 November 2022