UK’s Port of Dover postpones EES biometrics for car passengers

The UK’s Port of Dover has postponed registrations for car passengers under the European Union’s Entry-Exit System (EES) at the request of French authorities.

The cross-channel ferry and maritime cargo terminal introduced the biometric border registration scheme for all coach and foot passengers on October 12th, when the system was officially kicked off. The Port of Dover initially planned to extend the system to cover all other traffic last Saturday. French authorities, however, did not give the go-ahead for the launch, Reuters reports.

“Whilst Port of Dover’s facilities will be ready for 1st November, we are being guided by French authorities as to when we will activate,” says Doug Bannister, the Port’s CEO.

The EU has allowed Schengen member states to introduce the EES gradually until April 2026 in order to allow border control checks to adjust the flow of visitors and prevent long queues.

British and French authorities have also been collaborating to lower potential congestion. Biometric EES kiosks at London’s St Pancras railway station have temporarily removed certain questions in order to speed up traveler registration.

Operators of UK border controls on cross-Channel routes to the EU, including Eurotunnel, the Port of Dover and Eurostar, declared their readiness for the EES in September.

Amsterdam’s airport hires 200 employees to avoid EES queues

Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport has hired 200 new workers to assist non-EU travelers in registering for the EES through biometric self-service kiosks.

Passengers entering the Schengen Area member states are expected to scan their passports and submit their facial and fingerprint biometrics at the kiosks before proceeding to passport control. The Netherlands has opted for a phased approach, with Schiphol Airport starting a “small-scale launch” this Monday.

Currently, only a few dozen passengers a day are expected to register to the EES in order to help test the system, Rik Rovers, acting head of department at the Ministry of Asylum and Migration, told NL Times last week. Ultimately, however, Schiphol Airport will have to process between 15,000 and 20,000 passengers per day.

“We need to ensure everything works correctly and identify any issues. In December, we will process larger volumes,” says Rovers.

Other Dutch airports are joining Schiphol in gradually rolling out EES on Monday. The system is already in place at several seaports, including Eemshaven and the port of IJmuiden.

Metropolitan Police to expand live facial recognition use

The Metropolitan Police plans to intensify its deployment of live facial recognition (LFR) technology across London, citing its effectiveness in identifying suspects and reducing violent crime.

This follows the release of the force’s annual report, which lists more than 1,400 arrests linked to LFR use between September 2024 and 2025. According to the report, 962 arrests were made during that period, with more than a quarter involving offences against women and girls, including rape, strangulation and domestic abuse.

Of those detained, 549 were wanted by the courts and 347 by the Met, while 85 were arrested for breaching conditions such as those imposed on registered sex offenders and stalkers. The technology was deployed more than 200 times across London boroughs.

The Met highlighted the success of LFR at public events, notably the Notting Hill Carnival, where 61 arrests were made and 30 registered sex offenders were stopped over the two-day event. Among those apprehended was Tabsart Abderahmen, 58, who had been wanted since October 2015 for harassment.

However, the technology has faced criticism over privacy and potential bias. The report acknowledged that 10 individuals were falsely flagged by the system, eight of whom were Black. While none were arrested, six were briefly stopped by officers.

The Met maintains that the false alert rate remains low, standing at 0.0003 percent from over three million scans, and that demographic imbalances are not statistically significant, although it promised ongoing review.

The biometric software is supplied by NEC. In 2023 testing by the UK’s National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the Neoface software was found to work well despite age changes in subjects, camera angles, headwear and adverse lighting conditions. When checking against 10,000 reference images, one in 6,000 people were falsely matched and there was “no statistically significant race and gender bias.”

Civil liberties group Big Brother Watch has launched a legal challenge against the Met’s use of LFR, joined by Shaun Thompson, who was wrongly identified in February 2024. Jasleen Chaggar, the group’s legal and policy officer, described the technology as “Orwellian” and warned of its chilling effect on public life. She also criticised the lack of legislation governing LFR use, calling for government intervention.

The UK Home Office is in the process of drawing up a governance framework for the use of LFR by police, with Home Secretary Yvette Cooper planning to establish a foundation for facial recognition use by law enforcement. The Policing Minister Diana Johnson has been tasked with engaging police forces and other stakeholders to consult on a governance framework.

Meanwhile, public support for the technology appears robust. A survey by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime found that 85 percent of respondents backed LFR to locate serious offenders and those at risk. The Met also reported a rise in public trust, with 74 percent of Londoners now trusting the force.

Lindsey Chiswick, the Met’s national lead for LFR, defended the technology’s role in enhancing safety and trust, calling it a “powerful and game-changing tool.” “We remain committed to transparency and fairness in its use.”

The Met reiterated that biometric data of individuals not on watch lists is immediately and permanently deleted. It now plans to increase LFR deployments weekly, aiming to further bolster its crime-fighting capabilities while addressing concerns over privacy and bias. “We are proud of the results achieved with LFR,” said Chiswick. “Our goal has always been to keep Londoners safe and improve the trust of our communities. Using this technology is helping us do exactly that.”

Outside of London, LFR assisted the arrests and charging of two people after police trialed the technology in Bolton town center. A local publication reported Inspector Jon Middleton from the Live Facial Recognition Unit saying the technology allowed the police to be “more proactive” in identifying and locating individuals who are wanted or missing.

Previously, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMIFRS) urged UK police forces to “fully exploit” retrospective facial recognition, recommending that no investigation be closed before cross-checking images against available databases.

Effectiveness of age gates for social media algorithms, chatbots next targets in UK

The algorithms that social media platforms use to determine what is presented to young UK users in their feeds will be subject to auditing under the Online Safety Act.

Ofcom Chief Executive Melanie Dawes told the Financial Times that her agency would pursue enforcement action against social media platforms that cannot prove their algorithms prevent children under 18 years old from exposure to restricted content.

The regulator has also discussed how the OSA applies to chatbots and generative AI tools.

Ofcom will look at content moderation and recommendations for sites including YouTube, Roblox and Facebook to make sure they do algorithmically deliver adult content.

OpenAI has acknowledged the applicability of the OSA to ChatGPT, Dawes says, while her comments on Grok indicate that X has not.

Lawmakers in the EU and Australia are currently grappling with whether and how to restrict social media access to young people.

In total, Ofcom currently has 69 investigations into possible violations of the OSA and its age verification rules, according to the report.

Dawes also notes a significant rollback in the use of VPNs since they surged in the wake of the OSA’s launch.

Liberal Democrat Lord Timothy Clement-Jones introduced a motion “to regret” in the upper chamber last week, arguing that it introduces “a ceiling, not a floor” on online child protection, MLex reports. He was joined by legislators from other parties.

Lawmakers argued that the codes are not specific enough to meet the differing needs of children at different ages, civil society feedback was not sufficiently acted on, that live-streaming and algorithms that promote harmful but legal content need more scrutiny.