Since 2017, millions in public funds has been spent on facial recognition software in New York State. You can ban it!

Some cities in the USA have already banned FRT. There is something you can do about it. Your voice counts.

  • In June 2019, San Francisco banned the use of facial recognition by the police, making it the first major city to do so in the United States.”
  • In June 2020, Boston became the second largest city to follow suit.
  • In September 2020, the city of Portland, Oregon, instated the widest ban to date, prohibiting police, city departments and public-facing businesses from using the technology.
  • In December 2020, New York State banned facial recognition in schools.
  • Check out Fight for the Future’s interactive map of facial recognition use and ban efforts across the United States.

Facial recognition enables discrimination, globally

The full extent of this discrimination is largely unknown. However, two Black men in Detroit have already filed claims of false arrest against the Detroit Police Department (DPD). In both cases, facial recognition systems incorrectly placed them at the scene of a crime. The Internet Freedom Foundation in India have also sounded the alarm on FRT used against Muslim minority communities in New Delhi in particular, where a number of Indian vendors provide opaque software to police.

In the West Bank, AnyVision cameras support the continued occupation and oppression of Palestinians, while smart city contracts for thousands of FRT capable surveillance cameras, funded by China, are due to be installed in the Mongolian city of Ulaanbaatar

▴ Protestors shout in front of NYPD officers during a “Black Lives Matter” demonstration on May 28, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Johannes EISELE / AFP)