Irish regulator to probe Ryanair use of facial recognition [Video]

Ireland’s data watchdog said Friday it will probe whether budget airline Ryanair’s use of facial recognition to check the identity of customers booking through third-party websites violates EU privacy laws.

The Data Protection Commission (DPC) — which also helps to police EU data privacy — said it had received complaints from Ryanair customers across the bloc about its processing of personal data, and said the probe would be EU-wide in scope.

The regulator said the complaints concerned the carrier’s practice of requesting additional identification verification from those booking travel tickets through third-party sites and online travel agents (OTAs), as opposed to directly with Ryanair.

“The DPC has received numerous complaints from Ryanair customers across the EU/EEA who after booking their flights were subsequently required to undergo a verification process,” DPC deputy commissioner Graham Doyle said in a statement.

“The verification methods used by Ryanair included the use of facial recognition …