Civil liberty groups say the UK police's live facial recognition tech is 'intrusive' and 'indiscriminate' — but the UK government is promising more safeguards

As the BBC reports, the announcement comes after a public consultation on how LFR is used across the country.

Real-time scanning and matching LFR works by scanning faces in real time, and comparing them to a police database of individuals — from missing people to wanted criminals.

The police are advised to publicly advertise the use of LFR online, unless there's a "critical threat".

Jasleen Chaggar, senior legal and policy officer at the Big Brother Watch privacy group, told the BBC that the facial recognition technology was "an indiscriminate tool" that represented something "fundamentally un-British" — going against the presumption that you're innocent until proven guilty.

"All the while, facial recognition has been rolled out in train stations and Tube stations and shops and supermarkets across the country."