The Cambridge City Council has unanimously voted to ban the public use of facial recognition technology. The decision makes Cambridge the fourth (and largest) Massachusetts community to issue such a ban, following similar initiatives in Somerville, Brookline, and Northampton. The legislation specifically bars the deliberate use of facial recognition (and any information gathered through facial…
Democratic junior senator Chris Coons (D-Delaware) is cosponsoring a bipartisan piece of legislation that aims to regulate the use of facial recognition technology on the federal level. The other sponsor for the bill — known as The Facial Recognition Technology Warrant Act — is Utah Republican senator Mike Lee (R-UT). It would require federal law…
The town of Brookline, Massachusetts, has officially moved forward with its facial recognition ban. The proposed ban was first tabled back in August with the blessing of Brookline State Senator Cynthia Creem. The new law bars the government’s use of facial recognition technology for surveillance and other purposes. It passed with an overwhelming 179 votes…
“The moratorium will be in place until the commission is able to establish concrete policies concerning the use of facial recognition.” Administrators of the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, or Sea-Tac, have implemented a moratorium on the use of facial recognition technology in the parts of the airport over which they have jurisdiction, putting a halt to…
In a debate taking place this week, Portland, Maine, City Council is considering joining the growing list of U.S. cities that have banned the use of facial recognition technology. The only place in Portland currently known to be using the technology is the Portland Jetport, where it is used by the airlines JetBlue and Delta,…
A pair of senators from both sides of the political aisle have tabled a new bill that would place restrictions on the use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement agencies. The Facial Recognition Technology Warrant Act — sponsored by Christopher Coons (D-Del.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) — would require law enforcement agencies to obtain a warrant and…
Biometrics News – Facial Recognition Australia’s Department of Home Affairs has made a proposal to parliament to use facial recognition scans to verify a user’s age when attempting to view pornography online. The service as proposed would scan the user’s face and match it against images of their official government ID. According to officials, the…
Biometrics News – Facial Recognition A pair of class action lawsuits have recently been filed in Illinois against Rivers Casino in De Plaines and retail giant Wallgreens, with plaintiffs claiming state laws were broken when their facial biometric geometry was recorded without their consent. The lawsuits claim that plaintiffs’ rights were violated under the Illinois…
A large coalition of organizations and trade associations has asked Congress to reconsider public bans on facial recognition technology. The group sent a letter to leading Democrat and Republican lawmakers, encouraging them to establish clear federal guidelines in collaboration with industry representatives. According to the Security Identity Association (SIA), the letter is part of a…
Biometrics News – Facial Recognition Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a branch of The Department of Homeland Security, have filed a Request for Information to vendors seeking information and/or recommendations on biometric identity verification and body worn cameras. According to the RFI, the aim is to outfit Border Patrol agents with body cameras with the…
“It’s worth noting that this latest state legislation is concerned specifically with the use of facial recognition technology through police-worn body cameras…” California’s State Assembly has approved a moratorium on the use of facial recognition technology through police body cameras. The legislation originated earlier this year as an outright ban, and was passed in the…
“The efforts reflect the larger, increasingly contentious debate around facial recognition technology, which largely revolves around the axes of privacy advocates’ fears of Big Brother-style surveillance, and police organizations’ insistence that it offers a useful security and policing tool.” Fight for the Future, a non-profit advocacy group aimed at promoting a free internet, is now…
Brookline, Massachusetts, is the latest municipality to consider a ban on facial recognition technology. The legislation was put forward by town meeting member Amy Hummel, and will be voted on during a special town meeting in November. The proposal has the support of Cynthia Creem, who represents the town in the Massachusetts State Senate and…
This week could see the further development of a small but growing trend toward banning the government’s use of facial recognition technology, with the Oakland City Council set to discuss a proposed ban in a meeting scheduled for Tuesday. Introduced earlier this year, the proposed ban would only apply to the municipal government, prohibiting it…