Nationwide Facial Recognition Ban Proposed by Lawmakers
upstart writes in with an IRC submission:
Nationwide Facial Recognition Ban Proposed By Lawmakers:
Lawmakers have proposed legislation that would indefinitely ban the use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement nationwide. The new bill comes after months of public concerns surrounding facial recognition's implications for data privacy, government surveillance and racial bias.
The Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act was proposed Thursday by Sens. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA). While various cities have banned government use of the technology (with Boston this week becoming the tenth U.S. city to do so), the bill would be the first temporary ban on facial recognition technology ever enacted nationwide.
The newly proposed bill would "prohibit biometric surveillance by the Federal Government without explicit statutory authorization and to withhold certain Federal public safety grants from State and local governments that engage in biometric surveillance."
[...] The ban has no definitive time limit in place, and would continue until Congress passed a law to lift it.
[...] "Facial recognition technology doesn't just pose a grave threat to our privacy, it physically endangers Black Americans and other minority populations in our country," said Senator Markey in a statement. "In this moment, the only responsible thing to do is to prohibit government and law enforcement from using these surveillance mechanisms."
I see nothing blocking companies from using recognition -- facial or otherwise -- and whose data government agencies could request or subpoena.
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