Facial recognition used by Sports Direct.

 The parent company of Sports Direct – Fraser’s Group - says live face-recognition (LFR) technology has cut crime in its shops. Using a system called Facewatch, cameras check faces of customers against a watch-list of known offenders.

But 50 MPs and peers have supported a letter opposing the use of LFR by Frasers Group.

Frasers Group has responded by saying that it takes its responsibilities around LFR extremely seriously and stressed its effectiveness, saying: “Since installing this technology, we have seen a significant reduction in the number of criminal offences taking place in our stores”.

The letter criticising its use was organised by the campaign groups Big Brother Watch, Liberty and Privacy International. They say research into face-recognition technology [which is disputed by Facewatch owner Simon Gordon] suggests;

• 87% of "matches" in Metropolitan Police trials misidentified innocent people

• women and people belonging to some ethnic minorities are more likely to be misidentified than white people are.

The letter says: “The technology up-ends the democratic principle of suspicion preceding surveillance and treats everyone who passes the camera like a potential criminal”.

The Facewatch system alerts staff when someone on a shared national face-recognition database enters a subscriber's shop. Requests to add someone to the database have to be backed-up with full witness statements and explanations, which a panel of former police officers review before being accepted.

The Information Commissioner's Office has confirmed the use of Facewatch is lawful.