Facial recognition and data protection: a provisional answer to a pending issue

Abstract

Facial recognition technologies are expanding, and even though they could benefit law enforcement authorities and make the access to goods and services more comfortable, they might put at stake certain democratic freedoms. At the moment, the European data protection framework is the main legislation that can restrain the use of facial recognition. This paper aims to analyse the implications of facial recognition as a category of biometric data processing. Particularly, it attempts to clarify which legal basis of the European Data Protection Regulation could allow the use of these technologies.