BREAKING: We’re calling on President Biden to pause all federal government use of face recognition technology.
This tech is flawed, biased against people of color, women, trans people, and more.
Even if it worked exactly as advertised, it would be a nightmare. Let’s explain.
Study after study has confirmed this bias.
One study showed that face recognition tech failed in identifying Black women nearly 1/3 of the time, but was more accurate on white men.
Subsequent studies, including by @ACLU_NorCal and the government, have confirmed these findings.
These biases have real consequences that disproportionately harm Black people.
Robert Williams, Michael Oliver, and Nijeer Parks are all Black men who were wrongly arrested and detained because of this technology.
Even if face recognition tech worked perfectly, it would be a civil liberties nightmare — giving the government the ability to track us to houses of worship, protests, healthcare appointments, intimate partners’ homes — harming our rights to privacy, speech, and association.
And face recognition technology would surely be used to exacerbate over-policing of communities of color, immigrant communities, poor communities, and others already bearing the brunt of the criminal enforcement system.