The use of facial recognition technology should be halted, and the US’ federal funds should not be used to purchase such “discriminatory” technologies, over 30 rights organisations including the American Civil Liberties Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and S.T.O.P., wrote in a letter to the US Congress last week. “As thousands gather to demonstrate and demand justice for George Floyd, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor and countless other Black people who have been killed by police, it is time Congress responds to these demands and eradicates systemic racism and tools that facilitate discriminatory policing – including face recognition technology,” the letter said. In particular, the letter demanded: Congress to pass legislation like the Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act of 2020, which proposes to halt the use of face recognition and prevent federal funds from being used to purchase such technology, Stop federal funding of invasive and discriminatory technologies by police, including face recognition Ensure that any policing reform bill that funds body or dash cameras prohibits the use of face recognition technology. 'Face recognition tech gives the govt unprecedented power to track people' The letter said that facial recognition technology gives the government unprecedented power to track people, is discriminatory towards people of colour, and more importantly, can exacerbate inherent biases already present in the police system. Unprecedented tracking: Companies marketing this technology to the government boast that it can be used to track people in real-time, reconstruct past movements from video footage, or identify a hundred individuals from a single…
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Halt the use of facial recognition technology, prohibit its purchase using federal funds: 30 rights groups to the US Congress
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