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Portland adopts strictest facial recognition ban in nation to date:
City leaders in Portland, Oregon, [Wednesday] adopted the most sweeping ban on facial recognition technology passed anywhere in the United States so far.
The Portland City Council voted on two ordinances related to facial recognition: one prohibiting use by public entities, including the police, and the other limiting its use by private entities. Both measures passed unanimously, according to local NPR and PBS affiliate Oregon Public Broadcasting.
The first ordinance (PDF) bans the "acquisition and use" of facial recognition technologies by any bureau of the city of Portland. The second (PDF) prohibits private entities from using facial recognition technologies "in places of public accommodation" in the city.
Both ordinances hold that facial recognition technology has a disparate impact on underprivileged communities, particularly people of color and people with disabilities, and that those disproportionate effects fall afoul of the city's commitment to "human rights principles such as privacy and freedom of expression." Any framework for city use of facial recognition and other technologies must include "impacted communities and transparent decision-making authority" to ensure that the city does not "harm civil rights and civil liberties."
The city also explicitly recognizes a degree of privacy as one of those rights. "Portland residents and visitors should enjoy access to public spaces with a reasonable assumption of anonymity and personal privacy," the second ordinance reads. "This is true for particularly those who have been historically over-surveilled and experience surveillance technologies differently."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 12 2020, @05:27PM
Well, no one was arguing that banning corporate and government mass surveillance would be easier, just that with enough political will, it would be possible to ban the more egregious, overt forms of it.