The Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously (12-0) on February 12 to ban the use of facial recognition software by police and other city agencies. With the ban, Minneapolis joins a growing list of U.S. that have taken steps to limit or even end the use of the technology by police and other local agencies.
However, Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said in a statement that the ban was created without feedback from him, also emphasizing that he believes it is possible to use facial recognition technology in accordance with data and legal protections for citizens.
Nevertheless, it has become apparent so far that facial recognition software has amplified social and ethnic biases, while privacy advocates have expressed concerns regarding its use by law enforcement. The Minneapolis ordinance created an appeals process that allows municipal offices to request exemptions under certain conditions.
Minneapolis saw “noisy” protests last summer after one of its police officers killed George Floyd during an arrest in May. The City Council voted to close its police department last June, but ended up cutting the department’s 2021 budget by 5%.
Software developed by Clearview AI — the controversial company that has a database of about 3 billion photos taken from social media and other sites — will be included in Minneapolis’ facial recognition ban. BuzzFeed News reported last year that Minneapolis was one of the police departments that had access to Clearview’s software. Clearview also has contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security.
As The Verge reports, several cities have already moved to ban facial recognition software, with Portland blocking both public and private use of the technology. Boston, San Francisco, and Oakland have also passed laws banning public institutions from using facial recognition, but Portland was the first to ban private use.
