Big Brother Watch

15/05/2026

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📹Head of Digital Communications
✍️2x Legal & Policy Volunteers
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Defending Civil Liberties, Protecting Privacy

15/05/2026

👁️Police will be using facial recognition technology at protests tomorrow for the first time

This week we spoke with Gina Romero, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association

We must urgently stop facial recognition⤵️

14/05/2026

👁️Facial recognition = biometric ID checks

"None of us would give up our IDs or fingerprints to the police just to go to the high street - that's effectively what's happening here" - Jake Hurfurt

Sign our petition to stop facial recognition⤵️
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-scanning-us-all-with-facial-recognition

14/05/2026

⚠️Deploying live facial recognition at protests in this country is a frightening escalation.

A biometric identity check cannot become a prerequisite for free speech in this country.

The use of live facial recognition at protests will put many people off expressing their views and that is a dangerous path for Britain to go down. Police already have the powers to detain anyone using violence at a protest, but treating everybody as a potential suspect is a chilling step reminiscent of authoritarian regimes, not a democracy.

This Orwellian technology has never been explicitly authorised by Parliament and now the police are using it to chill our most fundamental rights. Until laws regulating its use with robust safeguards, including protecting everybody’s right to protest, LFR use must be halted

13/05/2026

🚨Revealed: Police are likely to make 30 times more arrests in some areas than others for SPEECH offences

Our investigation has found that:
🔸In just two years, 16,108 speech-related arrests were made by 40 police officers across the UK
🔸Cumbria police made 2.5 times more arrests than the national average

“Freedom of speech is a universal right in a democracy, but our research shows that it is a postcode lottery in Britain.

The differences in these figures suggest that in Britain, your right to free speech often depends on where you live rather than on the law itself.”

- Maya Thomas, Legal & Police Officer

Read: https://www.thetimes.com/uk/law/article/chance-arrest-speech-offences-postcode-lottery-qld7knr8k

13/05/2026

🆔On digital ID:

“Access to public services we all pay for should never require a digital ID. This would inevitably be an intrusive, multi billion pound system no one wants, no one voted for, and that has no real purpose. Plans so far have indicated that the digital ID would be a cradle to grave system ripe for mass surveillance and more government control over people’s lives.

“Committing to a national digital ID system in the King’s Speech when the polls show the public don’t want one is utterly tone deaf.

“The Government has already failed to impose a mandatory digital ID system on the public and should now drop this terrible plan altogether before more taxpayers’ money is squandered on it.”

👁️On facial recognition:

“We welcome the government finally agreeing to our demands to introduce a law to govern the use of facial recognition, which could end privacy as we know it without the right restraints.

“The devil will be in the detail but the Government has given us no reason to believe this new law will give the public the legal safeguards that are so long overdue, given they have already committed to the biggest ever increase of live facial recognition cameras up and down the country.

“Facial recognition combined with digital IDs that use our faces as barcodes is a recipe for a surveillance state nightmare.

“It’s vital that the Government learns from other Western democratic nations on how to protect the public from mass facial recognition surveillance rather than continuing this path which is frankly more akin to authoritarian states.”

- Silkie Carlo, Big Brother Watch Director

13/05/2026

🚨Breaking: The King has just announced the Government will "proceed with the introduction of digital ID"

We're prepared to fight back harder than ever. ⤵️
https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/campaigns/no2digitalid/

12/05/2026

🔓Instagram will now be able to access your messages as it removes encryption

"End-to-end encryption is one of the key ways children can keep their data safe online, we're concerned that Meta may be caving to government pressure." - Maya Thomas

Read⤵️

The platform said it would remove end-to-end encrypted messages, a major U‑turn by parent company Meta.

12/05/2026

👁️King's Speech: Civil Liberties Risks to Watch For

Ahead of Wednesday’s , we're remaining particularly vigilant on any laws regarding:

🔸The Social Media Ban
🔸Facial Recognition
🔸Protest Rights
🔸Encryption

Read⤵️

It’s King’s Speech week, with Parliament set to discuss the government’s new legislative agenda. For those watching closely, here are Big Brother Watch’s key things to look out for in the debate: 1. Facial Recognition – Lights, Camera, we need Action After a decade of police forces experim...

10/05/2026

🤝Volunteer with us!

We're looking for two legal and policy volunteers & an advocacy volunteer.

From analysing a range of current legislation to conducting parliamentary monitoring & research, you'll be a vital resource for us.

Apply⤵️

Defending Civil Liberties, Protecting Privacy

09/05/2026

🆔Should you hand over your ID, or your face, just to post online?

We asked the public this question and this is what they have to say - NO to digital ID checks⤵️