San Francisco is the first city in Americato ban police from adopting facial recognition technology.
The reason for this decision is related to privacy. City officials felt it was inappropriate to expose people's photos to facial recognition applications
The decision was approved on Tuesday, by eight votes to one.
Law enforcement agencies must be transparent about the surveillance technologies they use.
Officials argue that facial recognition technology violates rights and civil liberties, making it more of a negative than a positive. “It threatens our ability to live freely, without constant government surveillance,” they said.
The use of these tracking technologies and the sharing of data should only occur in extremely important cases.
For several years, various surveillance systems have been used and accepted, such as vehicle license plate recognition cameras and surveillance cameras (in stores and so on).
The use of facial recognition technology by police can be quite helpful in apprehending criminals.
However, there are some researchers who believe that its use will not be effective. The recognition system has been found to be “biased” against people of color and women. Also, a report had shown that Amazon’s recognition application had not correctly identified some faces.
San Francisco's decision is supported by many organizations that fight for civil rights and freedoms, as well as the non-profit organization ACLU of Northern California.
Many people were opposed to the adoption of this technology by law enforcement agencies, so this decision will reassure them.
There are concerns in other US cities, including Oakland, Berkeley and Somerville, that are considering following San Francisco's example.
Even some tech companies believe there should be limits on the use of facial recognition technology. For example, Microsoft president Brad Smith has said that unrestricted use of the technology could erode democracy and people's privacy.
On the other hand, China welcomed and adopted the facial recognition system with great joy, to be able to monitor its citizens.
