Italy switches on real-time facial recognition as EU weighs rights risks

A legislative decree amending the AI Act took effect in Italy this week, setting rules for AI systems including live biometric recognition. Police use of real-time facial recognition is limited to preventing specific threats and searching for missing persons, with event-specific databases that must be deleted after statutory deadlines. The EU Fundamental Rights Agency published a report warning of serious fundamental rights concerns.

• Real-time facial recognition is limited to preventing threats and finding missing persons
• Biometric databases must be created per event and deleted after statutory deadlines
• Web scraping of images for such systems is prohibited
• FRA published a report with 11 recommendations for EU regulation