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San Francisco Could Ban Facial Recognition Technology, Becoming First US City to Do So

posted by martyb on Saturday February 02 2019, @10:25PM   
from the don't-look-at-me-that-way dept.

realDonaldTrump writes:

San Francisco could become the first U.S. city to ban the use of facial recognition technology, criticized as biased by lawmakers and privacy advocates.

A new bill unveiled on Tuesday, known as the Stop Secret Surveillance Ordinance, states that the risks of the controversial technology "substantially outweigh...its purported benefits, and the technology will exacerbate racial injustice and threaten our ability to live free of continuous government monitoring."

https://foxnews.com/tech/san-francisco-could-ban-facial-recognition-technology-becoming-first-us-city-to-do-so

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Original Submission

• Re:How do you ban secret things? (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday February 04 2019, @12:06PM

  by FatPhil (863) <reversethis-{if.fdsa} {ta} {tnelyos-cp}> on Monday February 04 2019, @12:06PM (#796094) Homepage

  Secret's a red herring, I think it's there for shock value in the headlines. In reality, though, surely the in-your-face surveillance that they're getting away with is even more scary - they're not even ashamed of how close to 1984's Big Brother they appear.
  E.g. a recent equivalent from the United Kingdom of Surveillance: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/facial-recognition-cameras-technology-london-trial-met-police-face-cover-man-fined-a8756936.html
  """
  A man has been fined after refusing to be scanned by controversial facial recognition cameras being trialled by the Metropolitan Police.
  
  The force had put out a statement saying “anyone who declines to be scanned will not necessarily be viewed as suspicious”. However, witnesses said several people were stopped after covering their faces or pulling up hoods.
  
  Campaign group Big Brother Watch said one man had seen placards warning members of the public that automatic facial recognition cameras were filming them from a parked police van.
  
  “He simply pulled up the top of his jumper over the bottom of his face, put his head down and walked past,” said director Silkie Carlo.
  
  “There was nothing suspicious about him at all … you have the right to avoid [the cameras], you have the right to cover your face. I think he was exercising his rights.”
  """

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