DATAFACE – Your ID is Your Face

Catherine Jasserand was awarded an individual postdoctoral Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship to conduct research on facial recognition technologies (FRTs) in public spaces at the KU Leuven Faculty of Law. The objectives of DATAFACE were to identify the threats and risks that the use of FRTs in public spaces poses to EU privacy and data protection law and to assess whether legitimate and proportionate use of the technologies can be defined.

The study was based on country trends (France, the UK, the US and, to a limited extent, China), the description of the technical characteristics of biometric systems (through collaboration with computer scientists) and the analysis of the legal frameworks applicable to the right to privacy and data protection. The country trends showed an evolution towards more biometric surveillance in all the countries studied.

The project also examined the regulatory approach to experimentation with FRTs in public spaces and the impact of their deployment for surveillance and policing purposes, assessing the new AI Act rules applicable to FRTs and similar biometric technologies deployed in public spaces. One of the papers written in the context of the project received the Future of Privacy Forum’s 14th Annual Privacy Papers for Policymakers Award.

Duration of the project

2020 - 2023

Awarded grant

267,480 euros, obtained from Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Contact person at our Faculty

Dr. C.A. (Catherine) Jasserand

Websites with additional information