The European Union is considering a temporary ban on the use of facial recognition technology because of data privacy concerns.

Next month Margrethe Vestager, the European commissioner for digital policy and antitrust, will publish a paper setting out the EU's plans for regulating artificial intelligence over the next five years.

This paper is expected to include a call for facial recognition technology to be banned for three to five years while the privacy impact of the technology is thoroughly assessed.

A draft of the paper states that the "use of facial recognition technology by private or public actors in public spaces would be prohibited for a definite period (e.g. three to five years) during which a sound methodology for assessing the impacts of this technology and possible risk management measures could be identified and developed."

EU governments are responding to concerns from civil liberty campaigners that use of the technology in public spaces allows private companies, police and intelligence services to collect facial data without proper controls.

In the U.K. last week, the Metropolitan Police, which is responsible for policing all of London, announced it would be using live facial recognition technology to identify known criminals. The decision was attacked by civil liberty activists.

"Facial recognition technology poses a huge threat to human rights, including the rights to privacy, nondiscrimination, freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly," said Anna Bacciarelli, of the civil liberties group Amnesty International.

The call to ban facial recognition technology received backing from the CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai, last week.

Speaking at an event on technology, Pichai said governments should regulate the use of facial recognition technology.

"Facial recognition is fraught with risks. I think it is important that dominant regulation tackles it sooner rather than later," Pichai said. "It is important that governments are involved. It can be immediate but maybe there's a waiting period before we really think about how it's being used."