The Dark Side of Retail Technology: Facial Recognition's Slippery Slope The rollout of facial recognition technology in UK shops that instantly alerts police is being hailed as a breakthrough by some, but it's hard to see this move as anything other than a slippery slope towards a surveillance state.
Facewatch, the company behind this development, claims it's all about tackling serious offenders, but critics warn that this is just a thinly veiled attempt to entrench a culture of suspicion and control.
The statistics are staggering: over 300,000 alerts were issued by Facewatch in the first six months of 2026 alone. However, these numbers don't necessarily translate into public safety.