The technical school upper-case letter of America has just become the first city in the nation to stop the government from using facial acknowledgment technology in public places and sector . In an 8 - to-1 vote , the city plug-in sanction theanti - surveillance ordinancethat outlaws purpose of the tech by government department and police .
" With this vote , San Francisco has declared that face surveillance engineering is contrastive with a sizeable democracy and that residents deserve a voice in decision about in high spirits - tech surveillance , " Matt Cagle from the American Civil Liberties Union ( ACLU ) in Northern California toldBBC News .
" We applaud the urban center for listening to the residential district and take the way forward with this crucial legislating . Other cities should take bill and set up standardised safeguards to protect citizenry ’s safety and civil right wing . "
Facial recognition organisation employ computing machine programs to analyze human face – either in tangible time or after the fact – and liken against a database of image , harmonise to theACLU . This can be done using video photographic camera in streets , public areas , and traffic lights , to name a few , without consent or engagement .
Pushback against the ban come from those who believe that withholding such technologies may bog down down legal philosophy enforcement with supererogatory work , as well as prevent the city from having access to database and software systems that could solve crime , cover theSan Francisco Chronicle .
machine-driven facial acknowledgement ( AFR ) has previously been shown to be effective in fight criminal acts . An evaluation bySouth Wales Policein the UK found that having the engineering science grant police to identify suspects that they plausibly would not have otherwise been able to . Over a one - year period , more than 100 apprehension and charges were attend to by AFR . Last June , authorities were able toapprehenda suspect demand in a newspaper shot using the controversial technology .
San Francisco police do not currently utilize facial credit engineering , butCNNreports that they did run a test between 2013 and 2017 . Fifty - three of the metropolis ’s department will not be capable to use it , including the San Francisco Police Department . However , federally controlled installation at San Francisco International Airport and the Port of San Francisco can still employ facial acknowledgment engineering , as well as byplay and other private system like security systems and earphone .
The San Francisco beat is expected to formally pass into law after another vote next week .
[ H / T : San Francisco Chronicle ]
