Man who was wrongfully arrested calls on Minister for Justice to scrap plans for facial recognition technology

Robert Williams, a US citizen, was wrongfully arrested and detained in the US based on facial recognition technology (FRT). Ahead of an important public meeting on the issue in Dublin tonight, he has called on the Minister for Justice not to introduce the technology into Irish policing.

Robert Williams will be speaking at an event hosted by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) this evening in Dublin, alongside Nathan Freed Wessler, an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Robert’s personal story is a salutary lesson in the risks associated with facial recognition technology.

In January 2020, Mr Williams was arrested in his driveway in front of his wife and children after facial recognition technology had misidentified him as having been involved in a robbery. He was subsequently detained by police for 30 hours.

At the event, Mr Williams will share his experience.

“I never thought I’d have to explain to my daughters why Daddy got arrested,” he says. "How am I supposed to explain to two little girls that a computer got it wrong, but the police listened to it anyway?

“Federal studies have shown that facial-recognition systems misidentify Asian and Black people up to 100 times more often than white people. My daughters can’t unsee me being handcuffed and put into a police car, but they can see me use this experience to bring some good into the world.

“In America, we’re trying to undo the harms that FRT has already done. Here in Ireland, you have an opportunity not to introduce it in the first place. I hope your government will listen to experiences like mine and think twice before bringing FRT into policing.”

SERIOUS DEFICIENCIES

Nathan Freed Wessler, who is a deputy director with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, will also offer views that must be listened to.

“Facial recognition technology is dangerous when it fails, and dangerous when it functions,” he says. "The technology is notoriously unreliable when used in real-world conditions, and in the US it is at the centre of at least seven known wrongful arrest cases. And even if the technology worked better, it would still put a chilling power in the hands of police to identify and track anyone or everyone as we go about our lives.

“Evidence has repeatedly shown that this technology is dangerously unreliable and that it subjects Black and Brown people to higher rates of misidentification, particularly when used in law enforcement settings. Nearly every known case of a wrongful arrest due to police reliance on incorrect face recognition results has involved the arrest of a Black person.

“Police in the US rushed into adoption of this dangerous technology, and predictable harms resulted. Ireland can avoid repeating those mistakes by opting never to introduce FRT into Irish policing.”

The Irish government plans to give Gardaí access to FRT and is currently drafting legislation – the Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) (Amendment) Bill 2023 – for this purpose. ICCL and various academics and digital rights experts have been campaigning against this.

Tonight’s event, involving a film screening and panel discussion, is taking place in the Workmans Club in Dublin. Speaking ahead of the event, Liam Herrick, ICCL Executive Director, said:

“Facial recognition technology is highly intrusive, biased, racist and inaccurate. Introducing it for An Garda Síochána would completely change Irish policing and the relationship between gardaí and the communities they serve, in particular minoritised communities.

“More than two years after the Minister announced her plans to introduce facial recognition technology and three months after the Oireachtas Justice Committee highlighted serious deficiencies with the draft Bill, we still do not have answers to basic questions about the rationale for its introduction, how it would work and how people’s rights would be protected.

“We are delighted to be hosting Robert and Nathan in Dublin this week and hope that as many people as possible – including the Minister and all members of the Oireachtas – will listen to the evidence, and the experiences with this technology in the US.”

EVENT DETAILS

ICCL is hosting a public screening of ‘Coded Bias’ followed by a panel discussion at 6.30pm in the Workmans Club, Wellington Quay, Dublin 2. ‘Coded Bias’ is a documentary which explores the fallout of the discovery that FRT does not see dark-skinned faces accurately, and the journey to push for the first-ever legislation in the US to govern against bias in these algorithms.

The film will be followed by a panel discussion, moderated by Karlin Lillington (journalist and columnist with The Irish Times) with panellists:

- Robert Williams
- Nathan Wessler, Deputy Director, ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project
- Olga Cronin, Surveillance and Human Rights Senior Policy Officer, ICCL
- Niamh O’Mahony, Chief Operating Officer and Head of Governance, Football Supporters Europe (FSE)

The event is free and tickets are available on Eventbrite here.

The event is organised with the support of the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO).