UK Home Office to Outfit Migrant Criminals With Face-scanning Smartwatches

The United Kingdom’s Home Office plans to use biometric smartwatches to track migrants who have been convicted of criminal offences. The wearables devices will be equipped with facial recognition technology, and criminal migrants will be required to scan their faces up to five times per day.

Buddi Limited has been contracted to provide the devices. Based in the UK, Buddi offers wearables including wristbands that let the wearer alert others after a fall with the push of a button, and a clip-on location tracker.

The smartwatch will track the wearer’s location at all times, and its data will be shared with the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice, and the police, according to a report from The Guardian.

The plans further illustrate the UK government’s interest in biometric surveillance technology after last month’s revelation that government authorities were planning a more stringent border control program that will require visitors to send selfie images to the Home Office to facilitate facial recognition scans at border checkpoints.

Source: The Guardian

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August 15, 2022 – by Alex Perala