San Francisco is on the way to become the first United States city to prohibit the use of face recognition by police and city agencies, it reflecting an increasing backlash against the technologies which is creeping into motor vehicle departments, airports, stadiums, home security cameras, and stores.
United States government agencies have used the technology for many decades to scan databases for defendants and protect identity fraud.
But recent developments in AI (artificial intelligence) have generated more refined computer vision tools, which makes it easier to address a missing child or activist in moving crowd, and for vendors to recognize a consumer’s facial expressions as they check store shelves.
Efforts to ban its use are getting pushback from law administration and the tech industry, however, it is far from a united front.
The leading company, Microsoft has opposed to ban, the company has advised lawmakers to set some limits on the technology.
“Facial recognition is one of the most common technology,’ said Alvaro Bedoya, who leads Georgetown University’s Center on Technology and Privacy.
Without regulations excluding law enforcement from obtaining driver’s license records, people who have never arrested could be the part of cybernetic police line-ups without having knowledge.
With the handful of big box stores over the United States are trying out cameras along with face recognition which can address their consumer age, gender, and mood, with the aim of presenting them targeted, real-time advertisements on in-store video displays.
If the country adopts this ban, other states, cities could follow, with lawmakers from parties considering to restrain government scrutiny and others expecting to hamper how businesses examine the emotions, faces, and steps of an unsuspecting people.
The California Government is looking for a barring proposal regarding the use of facial ID technology with the body cameras.