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San Francisco Becomes the First US City to Ban Facial Recognition Technology

Technology + Gear News
by Eben Diskin May 16, 2019

You get your eyes scanned at the airport, your fingerprints taken when you get a new passport, and there is a GPS in your cell phone that allows Big Brother to track your every step. But for San Francisco legislators, this is where the creepy surveillance technology stops — they voted eight to one in favor of a ban on facial recognition technology for the police and other government agencies.

Although some believe that the ban will prevent authorities to have all the tools they need to fight crime, others are relieved to know that their civil liberties will be protected. As reported by The Guardian, Matt Cagle, a technology and civil liberties attorney from the American Civil Liberties Union, believes that “face surveillance won’t make us safer, but it will make us less free,” especially when it comes to people of color and immigrants.

The measure will officially pass next week, though it will not apply to security at San Francisco’s air or sea ports, being that those are operated by federal agencies.

H/T: BBC

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