Police Will Scan Spectator Faces at UEFA Champions League Final

Security at this year’s Champions League final will be aided by facial recognition technology, according to Bloomberg. Police will be able to match soccer fans’ faces against a database of known offenders in real-time, according to a contract worth 170,000 pounds posted on the U.K. government’s website.

“The UEFA Champions League finals in Cardiff give us a unique opportunity to test and prove the concept of this technology in a live operational environment,“ South Wales Police Chief Superintendent Jon Edwards said in an emailed statement, adding that it should provide a basis for further use of the technology by police.

Facial recognition technology has been criticized as breaching privacy rights. A federal judge in Chicago ruled in February that Google must face claims that it violated the rights of millions of users by gathering and storing biometric data without consent. Facebook has faced similar action in a San Francisco federal court.

However, the technology is still being embraced by many sectors, particularly travel. British Airways announced in March that it will start allowing passengers to go through boarding gates at its London Heathrow Airport hub using a facial recognition entry system.