European Commission must ban biometric mass surveillance practices, say 56 civil society groups

On 1 April 2021, a coalition of 56 human rights, digital rights and social justice organisations sent a letter to European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, ahead of the long-awaited proposal for new EU laws on artificial intelligence (AI). The coalition is calling on the Commissioner to prohibit dangerous and harmful uses of AI that contravene fundamental rights. Specifically, they call to ban uses of biometrics that enable mass surveillance or other dangerous and harmful uses of AI, on fundamental rights groups.

This open letter builds on the January letter by 62 civil society organisations calling for red lines in the AI proposal and the letter from 116 MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) calling on the European Commission to put people ahead of profit.

The European Commission has set itself the important task of carving out a European way forward with AI that puts trust, excellence, and the protection of fundamental rights at its core. To achieve that goal, the upcoming legislative proposal on AI must take the necessary step of prohibiting applications of AI that irremediably violate fundamental rights, such as remote biometric identification technologies that enable inherently undemocratic mass surveillance.

The group also calls for the explicit inclusion of marginalised and affected communities in the development of EU AI legislation and policy.

Read the open letter here.

Add your support to the call by signing the officially-recognised EU petition to ban biometric mass surveillance practices now.