Facial recognition systems are used as a form of biometric mass surveillance that violate the right to privacy and threaten the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression. The technology exacerbates systemic racism as it could disproportionately impact people of color, who are already subject to discrimination and violations of their human rights by law enforcement officials. Black people are also most at risk of being misidentified by facial recognition systems.

Many American cities are already using this technology and are just one software upgrade away from its widespread use. That’s why advocates have successfully pushed cities like San Francisco, Somerville, Boston, and Portland to ban facial recognition by the police. Even in New York State, facial recognition has been banned in schools.

Facial recognition technology is developed by scraping millions of images from social media profiles and driver’s licenses, without your knowledge and consent. Software then runs facial analysis of images captured on CCTV or other video surveillance to search for potential matches.

While other US cities have banned the use of facial technology by law enforcement, New York Police Department [NYPD] continues to use the technology to intimidate and harass law abiding residents, as seen during last year’s the Black Lives Matters protests. This is in violation of fundamental human rights and risks creating a chilling effect, deterring New Yorkers from their right to protest, and targeting the most marginalized.

Facial recognition is a technology of mass surveillance that amplifies racist policing and threatens the right to protest – it must be banned!