SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer instructs an international traveler to look into a camera as he uses facial recognition technology to screen a traveler entering the United States on February 27, 2018 at Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida. (Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Bernie Sanders Calls on Congress to 'Ban Facial Recognition Technology for All Policing'
"Facial recognition technology violates the privacy and civil liberties of Americans, and deepens racial bias in policing."
Jun 11, 2020
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday called on Congress to enact a total ban on police use of facial recognition technology after Microsoft's president said the company--following a sustained outside pressure campaign--will not sell its surveillance software to law enforcement until stricter privacy regulations are implemented.
"Facial recognition technology violates the privacy and civil liberties of Americans, and deepens racial bias in policing," the Vermont senator tweeted. "Congress must ban facial recognition technology for all policing."
It's not the first time Sanders has made the demand, as a proposal to "ban the use of facial recognition software for policing" was included in his 2020 presidential campaign's criminal justice reform agenda.
Sanders' demand came after Microsoft president Brad Smith said during an event hosted by the Washington Post that his company "will not sell facial-recognition technology to police departments in the United States until we have a national law in place, grounded in human rights that will govern this technology." Smith clarified that Microsoft does not currently provide facial recognition technology to U.S. police.
As Common Dreams reported Thursday, Amazon--which has been selling its facial recognition product to law enforcement for years--also committed to temporarily bar police from using its notoriously inaccurate Rekognition software.
Matt Cagle, technology and civil liberties attorney with the ACLU of Northern California, said in a statement that "when even the makers of face recognition refuse to sell this surveillance technology because it is so dangerous, lawmakers can no longer deny the threats to our rights and liberties."
"Congress and legislatures nationwide must swiftly stop law enforcement use of face recognition," said Cagle. "It should not have taken the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and far too many other black people, hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets, brutal law enforcement attacks against protesters and journalists, and the deployment of military-grade surveillance equipment on protests led by black activists for these companies to wake up to the everyday realities of police surveillance for black and brown communities."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday called on Congress to enact a total ban on police use of facial recognition technology after Microsoft's president said the company--following a sustained outside pressure campaign--will not sell its surveillance software to law enforcement until stricter privacy regulations are implemented.
"Facial recognition technology violates the privacy and civil liberties of Americans, and deepens racial bias in policing," the Vermont senator tweeted. "Congress must ban facial recognition technology for all policing."
It's not the first time Sanders has made the demand, as a proposal to "ban the use of facial recognition software for policing" was included in his 2020 presidential campaign's criminal justice reform agenda.
Sanders' demand came after Microsoft president Brad Smith said during an event hosted by the Washington Post that his company "will not sell facial-recognition technology to police departments in the United States until we have a national law in place, grounded in human rights that will govern this technology." Smith clarified that Microsoft does not currently provide facial recognition technology to U.S. police.
As Common Dreams reported Thursday, Amazon--which has been selling its facial recognition product to law enforcement for years--also committed to temporarily bar police from using its notoriously inaccurate Rekognition software.
Matt Cagle, technology and civil liberties attorney with the ACLU of Northern California, said in a statement that "when even the makers of face recognition refuse to sell this surveillance technology because it is so dangerous, lawmakers can no longer deny the threats to our rights and liberties."
"Congress and legislatures nationwide must swiftly stop law enforcement use of face recognition," said Cagle. "It should not have taken the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and far too many other black people, hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets, brutal law enforcement attacks against protesters and journalists, and the deployment of military-grade surveillance equipment on protests led by black activists for these companies to wake up to the everyday realities of police surveillance for black and brown communities."
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday called on Congress to enact a total ban on police use of facial recognition technology after Microsoft's president said the company--following a sustained outside pressure campaign--will not sell its surveillance software to law enforcement until stricter privacy regulations are implemented.
"Facial recognition technology violates the privacy and civil liberties of Americans, and deepens racial bias in policing," the Vermont senator tweeted. "Congress must ban facial recognition technology for all policing."
It's not the first time Sanders has made the demand, as a proposal to "ban the use of facial recognition software for policing" was included in his 2020 presidential campaign's criminal justice reform agenda.
Sanders' demand came after Microsoft president Brad Smith said during an event hosted by the Washington Post that his company "will not sell facial-recognition technology to police departments in the United States until we have a national law in place, grounded in human rights that will govern this technology." Smith clarified that Microsoft does not currently provide facial recognition technology to U.S. police.
As Common Dreams reported Thursday, Amazon--which has been selling its facial recognition product to law enforcement for years--also committed to temporarily bar police from using its notoriously inaccurate Rekognition software.
Matt Cagle, technology and civil liberties attorney with the ACLU of Northern California, said in a statement that "when even the makers of face recognition refuse to sell this surveillance technology because it is so dangerous, lawmakers can no longer deny the threats to our rights and liberties."
"Congress and legislatures nationwide must swiftly stop law enforcement use of face recognition," said Cagle. "It should not have taken the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and far too many other black people, hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets, brutal law enforcement attacks against protesters and journalists, and the deployment of military-grade surveillance equipment on protests led by black activists for these companies to wake up to the everyday realities of police surveillance for black and brown communities."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.