San Francisco votes to ban city use of facial
recognition technology
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[May 16, 2019]
By Jeffrey Dastin
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - San Francisco
officials on Tuesday voted 8 to 1 to ban the purchase and use of facial
recognition technology by city personnel, in a move to regulate tools
that local Silicon Valley companies helped develop.
The ordinance, which also would require city departments to submit
surveillance technology policies for public vetting, can become final
after a second vote next week by the same officials, the city's Board of
Supervisors.
The action puts San Francisco at the forefront of increasing discontent
in the United States over facial recognition, which government agencies
have used for years and now has become more powerful with the rise of
cloud computing and artificial intelligence technologies.
"We have a fundamental duty to safeguard the public from potential
abuses," Aaron Peskin, the city supervisor who championed the ban, said
before the board's vote.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/May/16/images/ads/current/pest-control-SDA-Termites-2015.png)
Peskin said the ordinance was not an anti-technology policy. It allows
continued use of surveillance tools like security cameras; the district
attorney or sheriff can make an appeal to use certain restricted
technology in exceptional circumstances as well.
Rather, Peskin said, the aim is to protect "marginalized groups" that
could be harmed by the technology.
For instance, Amazon.com Inc has come under scrutiny since last year for
selling an image analysis and ID service to law enforcement. Researchers
have said this service struggles to identify the gender of individuals
with darker skin, prompting fears of unjust arrests. Amazon has defended
its work and said all users must follow the law.
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![](../images/051619PIX/busine23.jpg)
City Supervisor Aaron Peskin speaks before a vote on a surveillance
technology ordinance that he sponsored, in San Francisco,
California, U.S., May 14, 2019. REUTERS/Jeffrey Dastin
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/May/16/images/ads/current/ccaonline_lda050208.png)
Civil rights groups and companies including Microsoft Corp, which markets a
facial recognition service, have called for regulation of the technology in
recent months. This has added momentum to the effort in San Francisco and to a
parallel ban reportedly in the works in nearby Oakland.
For a draft text of the San Francisco ordinance, see https://bit.ly/30jkPuJ
While communities at the heart of the technology industry are moving to limit
facial recognition, police elsewhere have increased their use, primarily to spot
potential suspects in known offender databases after a crime has occurred.
U.S. customs agents are vetting foreign travelers at airports with facial
recognition, and other federal agencies use the technology too.
Daniel Castro, vice president of the Information Technology & Innovation
Foundation, said concerns that the U.S. government would use face identification
for mass surveillance, like China has, were overblown. The non-profit includes
technology industry representatives on its board.
San Francisco's "ban on facial recognition will make it frozen in time with
outdated technology," he said.
(Reporting By Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco; editing by Bill Berkrot and
Cynthia Osterman)
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