Cities, States Push Back on Facial Recognition Software

American cities and states are beginning to resist facial recognition software as a Boston suburb followed San Francisco in banning it and several  legislatures are considering ways to limit it from identifying people without their knowledge.

Somerset, a Massachussetts town of 18,000 45 miles south of Boston, has passed an ordinance prohibiting the software, which uses machine learning algorithms to track human faces automatically in digital databases and match them to names.

“I think large numbers of the public may eventually be convinced that there is a useful need for this kind of thing,” said Somerset council member Ben Ewen-Campen, who introduced the ordinance. “But to use cases like that as the thin edge of a wedge to allow the government to just, in real time, surveil every person in every public space in our community…I think that’s where the real danger is.”

Other legislative bodies are following suit. Oakland, California, is considering its own measure, as is nearby Berkeley. State legislatures in New York, Massachusetts and California are mulling regulating the technology.

Calling a Time-Out

The Massachusetts proposal would declare a moratorium on facial recognition and other biometric surveillanceOpens a new window systems until lawmakers develop a framework defining who has the right to collect the data, specifying how it will be managed and clarifying the public’s rights.

In CaliforniaOpens a new window , lawmakers are considering a regulation barring all law enforcement officers from running facial recognition programs on body cameras. In New YorkOpens a new window , legislators are studying a bill to outlaw the software in rental buildings, which it calls “a new and dangerous breach of tenant privacy.”

Amazon Web Services has declined to halt sales of its RekognitionOpens a new window software and points out that it can be invaluable in helping the police identify terrorists and criminals who threaten the public. Dissident shareholders and some employees have demanded the company withhold it from government agencies over potential for abuse.

In the past two years, the software has become popular with police forces, allowing them to submit images of faces taken from video or photo images and compare them against database images including a driver’s license picture.

“The relative ease of operation allows officers to make the technology part of their daily work,” saysOpens a new window Jon Schuppe, a writer. “Rather than reserve it for serious or high-profile cases, they are using it to solve routine crimes and quickly identify suspicious people.”

Microsoft Tells the Police ‘No’

Few laws or regulations govern which databases the police can tap into, who is included in those databases and when the police can search them. In addition, guidelines have have yet to be written detailing how much information a government agency must share with the public about the technology.

Amazon’s Rekognition and Microsoft Azure’s API FaceOpens a new window are among the two most popular facial recognition programs. But unlike Amazon, Microsoft said it has turned down police departments and government agencies that it believed would misuse the software.

“Anytime they pulled anyone over, they wanted to run a face scan,” Microsoft President Brad Smith saidOpens a new window of an unnamed California police agency that tried to buy the software. “We said this technology is not your answer.”

The American Civil Liberties Union paints an even darker picture, arguing the technology can easily be used for nonstop monitoring of citizens without their notice or approval.

Storing Drivers Photos

State motor vehicle agencies have stored millions of high-quality photographs that are a natural source for facial recognition programs, the civil liberties union says. And the images could easily be combined with public surveillance or other cameras to build a comprehensive system of identification and tracking.

Local governments are stepping in to make the decision instead. In May, San Francisco led the way, banning the technology with its Stop Secret Surveillance ordinance. It prohibits city agencies from using facial surveillance, which can detect faces in images or live video streams and match those facial characteristics to someone’s identity in a database.

The San Francisco police said they have not used the software.

Oakland and Berkeley are planning to vote soon on bans. “What that means in real life is the risk of someone being wrongly believed to be a wanted criminal,” says Rebecca Kaplan, a Berkeley City Council member who introduced a proposed ordinance.

“And that could lead to them being arrested, being shot and all kinds of negative interactions that could worsen our community-police relations and put people in danger.”