Facial recognition is kind of at an awkward phase right now. While there is no doubt a lot of use for the technology, such as identifying criminals who are on the run, not many are receptive to the idea that they might be walking around and being recognized by security cameras without their consent or knowledge.After all, even if one has nothing to hide, we should all be afforded some modicum of privacy, right? This is one of the reasons why the state of California’s Senate is considering a legislation that would ban the use of facial recognition software used by body cams by the police. This is because it has been found that the current iteration of the software has been quite inaccurate at identifying suspects, potentially leading to false arrests.
For example, when the software was tested, the system “falsely identified 28 sitting members of Congress as people in a mug shot database, with members of color disproportionately misidentified.” It has also been criticized for not identifying women and younger people properly.
According to Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco who introduced the measure earlier this year, “Without my bill, face recognition technology can subject law-abiding citizens to perpetual police line-ups, as their every movement is tracked without consent. Its use, if left unchecked, undermines public trust in government institutions and unduly intrudes on one’s constitutional right to privacy.”
In the meantime, there was an incident over in London where a man was arrested while trying to avoid facial recognition cameras.