Privacy Concerns Trump Law Enforcement as Massachusetts Lawmakers Ban Facial Recognition

Lawmakers in Massachusetts voted to pass state-wide police ban on facial recognition by law enforcement.

The state’s House and Senate lawmakers have approved a police reform bill that would ban the use of facial recognition systems by the police departments and other public agencies in the state.

Several other cities across the United States have passed a similar ban of facial recognition over the past few years. San Francisco was the first one to vote for this ban in May 2019, followed by Somerville, Mass. and Oakland, California, Boston, Portland. However, in the case of Portland, the ban was also extended to private business which deploy the technology in public spaces.

Facial recognition systems has been criticized for various reasons all across the world. While, it is more likely to misidentify People of Color (POCs) than their Caucasian counterparts in the United States, the use of extensive surveillance systems has been criticized to violate privacy of the citizens.

Kade Crockford from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Massachusetts also explains that “no one should have to fear the government tracking and identifying their face wherever they go, or facing wrongful arrest because of biased, error-prone technology. We commend the legislature for advancing a bill to protect all Massachusetts residents from unregulated face surveillance technology.”

These state-level bans on facial recognition offer important lessons for developing countries like Pakistan, which are increasingly investing in safe city projects. Although facial recognition is a key tool to ensure safety and regulation by law enforcement agencies, other government departments and even the private sector, it raises serious privacy concerns.

With focus on privacy laws and digital privacy concerns increasing all across the globe, this ban on police facial recognition in Massachusetts will offer important lessons for policymakers in the coming future.