As UK cracks down on protests, surveillance tech market grows
Al Jazeera
From mobile phone trackers to facial recognition software, a range of spying tools were on sale at a recent London exhibition.
London, United Kingdom – “First we pick up that there’s a planned protest,” said Barry Millet, an information security manager at Mitie, as he pointed at a computer screen streaming a small protest.
“Our guys will analyse it, look at the various feeds, and work out how many people are attending. What sort of actions have these groups taken in the past? Are they passive? Are they more direct action? Are they likely to try and gain entry into the building?” he continued, demonstrating his company’s monitoring software from a trade booth at London’s 2021 International Security Expo (ISE), at the Olympia exhibition centre.
At the recent event, everything from mobile phone trackers and electrified, motion-sensitive border fences to facial recognition software and nano-drones was on show for government and corporate buyers.
