The City of Boston Considers a Municipal Ban on Facial Recognition Technology

Boston City Councilors introduced an ordinance banning the municipal use of facial recognition technology.  Boston’s existing version of the surveillance camera network does not include facial surveillance features.  However, according to the ACLU, if the city renews its contract with the current provider and upgrades to the latest version of its software, officials will have access to the facial recognition features.

Privacy advocates have long been signaling concerns about unregulated use of facial recognition in the United States.  According to the Georgetown University study, law enforcement face recognition networks include every other adult in the country. At least 1 out of 4 state or local police departments has an option to run face recognition searches through their or another agency’s system.  As many as 30 states allow law enforcement to run or request searches against their database of driver’s license and ID photos.  One of the major issues with the technology is that it has been shown to be less accurate on people of color, women, and other minority groups.

If the ordinance is enacted, Boston will join San Francisco, Oakland, and several Massachusetts municipalities (Springfield, Somerville, Brookline, Northampton and Cambridge) which have  outright banned the use of facial recognition software by law enforcement.   Portland city council is currently considering a ban that would outlaw the use of facial recognition software in all public spaces by private entities, as well as by the city government and local police.

As we recently reported, the State of Washington has recently passed the first public sector facial recognition law in the country. Meanwhile, the Massachusetts state legislators are considering a statewide moratorium on the governmental use of all forms of biometric surveillance systems, including facial recognition, gait, and voice recognition.

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