Nice Carnival cameras to test recognition software

Facial recognition software is to be tested in Nice for two days during the carnival, after the city received permission from liberties watchdog the Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés (CNIL)

The software tests will run on February 19 and 20 the city's Mayor Christian Estrosi announced on Monday, using six cameras in one part of the carnival area.

The area where the test is taking place will be clearly signposted.

Some 1,000 volunteers will take part in the test to replicate searches for missing people or anyone of interest to the authorities, to see if the software recognises them from the CCTV images.

The results of the two-day experiment will be submitted to CNIL within two months. The faces of those not taking part in the experiment will be blurred on any photographs used in the final report.