Smile! You’re on CCTV: Fairbrother Lecture preview

Hundreds of thousands of CCTV cameras record London’s streets and buildings every day. This year’s Fairbrother Lecture will take the audience on a virtual tour of the city to understand how surveillance technology is used.

The rapid rise of facial recognition surveillance and the laws that govern it will be explained in the Behind Electric Eyes public lecture on 7 March.

William Page, PhD candidate in Law, will guide attendees along a typical walk around London, uncovering the extent of facial recognition technology they would encounter on their travels.

A recent UK Government report stated that London ranked as the third most surveilled city in the world with an estimated 73.31 cameras per 1,000 population.

The Fairbrother Lecture takes place annually and gives a Reading doctoral researcher the chance to present their work to a wider audience.

We asked William to tell us more about his research ahead of the lecture:

What will the talk be about?

I’ll address how facial recognition surveillance technology is deployed and discusses potential areas where the law needs clarity and further development. The discussion will follow the narrative of a typical journey through London and how you might commonly find facial recognition.

Each example raises questions about law, but also questions the appropriateness of different uses of surveillance.

What drew you to your research area?

I started researching this area in 2019 when I wrote my undergraduate dissertation on the legality of facial recognition.

I had always been interested in surveillance and how policing practices sought to influence the behaviour of society. Facial recognition was hitting the headlines at the time and I was drawn to it.

Since then, I secured funding from the Southeast Network for Social Sciences and have been able to investigate this topic further. This area of law and society is in constant fluctuation, with no clear end in sight.

What does it mean to you to be chosen to deliver the Fairbrother Lecture this year?

It is real honour. I am very grateful for this opportunity to share my research in the hopes that those in attendance will find it a thought-provoking discussion.

I hope this talk will encourage a broader discussion about the development of surveillance technology and how it should be used.

What’s next for you and your research?

The development of facial recognition and its integration within contemporary policing demonstrates an ongoing tension between law, policing, and the interests of society. My PhD serves as an introduction into these issues. It would be great to undertake post-doctoral study and to further refine these ideas.

Behind Electric Eyes: Facial Recognition Surveillance in public spaces, takes place at 18:00 on Tuesday 7 March, in the Meadow Suite, Whiteknights campus.

The event is free, but attendees must register through the University’s events pages.