Last week marked an important moment in the UK, with the coronation of King Charles III being broadcasted and watched by over 20 million viewers across the nation. An additional two million people visited London at the same time, observed by a remarkable AI technology – live facial recognition. This was the largest deployment of such a technology in the history of the United Kingdom, sparking debate on privacy, civil liberties, and potential misuse.
Live facial recognition has raised several concerns over the years due to lack of specific legal regulations concerning its use. The British civil liberties campaign group, Big Brother Watch, stated that ‘Live facial recognition is not referenced in a single UK Law, has never been debated in Parliament, and is one of the most privacy-intrusive technologies ever used in British policing’. Potential false positives and other risks related to its usage has led to calls for a moratorium of live facial recognition until clear laws and ethical standard are put in place.
While the tension was palpable during the coronation, another advanced technology also took part in the festivities – 5G. 5G is the latest wireless technology, outpacing its predecessor 4G in both speed and reliability. It has the potential to revolutionize how we interact with the internet, especially for a data intensive application like self-driving cars, gaming, or live media streaming.
These properties made them ideal for the coverage of the prestigious event, with the BBC broadcasting the event to millions of viewers. Knowing that mobile networks are highly used during large events due to journalists sharing content and users uploading to social media, the British broadcasting company set up the world’s largest private 5G network in The Mall. This allowed 60 devices to stream data without interfering with the public networks.
BBC R&D, the technical research arm of the British news outlet, powered the network with access to 80 MHz of radio capacity. While this temporarily solved the issue of coverage, questions surrounding 5G remain, such as the prevalence of radiations. While some myths still perpetuate in society, experts believe that the 5G technology poses little harm.
Metioned in the article is the company BBC R&D, which serves as the technical research arm British news outlet. It is committed to creating innovative and practical solutions, supported with access to experts in artificial intelligence, media technology, computer vision and production.
Also mentioned is the organization Big Brother Watch, a British civil liberties campaign group. It is a non-profit that raises awareness and educates the public on issues surrounding civil liberty and privacy, also providing support by working with legal professionals.
