The technology hub that is San Francisco just rejected one of the latest pieces of tech being increasingly utilized by law enforcement. Facial recognition software is now banned there following a vote, with a second vote next week expected to go the same way.
As The New York Times reports, the bill to ban the use of facial recognition software was sponsored by city supervisor Aaron Peskin. The Board of Supervisors, which counts as the legislative branch of the City and County of San Francisco and consists of 11 members, voted 8-to-1 in favor of imposing the ban.
Speaking of the vote and subsequent ban, Peskin said, "I think part of San Francisco being the real and perceived headquarters for all things tech also comes with a responsibility for its local legislators ... We have an outsize responsibility to regulate the excesses of technology precisely because they are headquartered here."
With the ban in place, all agencies within the city can't take advantage of facial recognition technology directly, or in fact use information that's been acquired using facial recognition elsewhere. The San Francisco Police Officers Association still believes facial recognition is useful, at least in helping to provide leads. However, under the new rules an exemption exists for prosecutors "if the transparency requirements might interfere with their investigations."
The fight against the use of facial recognition and the inaccuracies current solutions present is becoming more widespread. For example, Microsoft recently rejected a police request for its facial recognition technology, the company also warned of a 1984-like future is it goes unregulated. Meanwhile, Amazon's Rekognition product has been found to contain racial bias, so is far from perfect.
The question now is, how many more cities will follow San Francisco? Oakland and Somerville, Massachusetts could be next.