San Francisco bans facial recognition software

Lawmakers in San Francisco have voted to outlaw the use of facial recognition tools. It is a move which will have implications for police surveillance – and also for transit agencies. It was reported last year that Bay Area Rapid Transit (Bart) was considering the introduction of face recognition software on its cameras, for example – but Bart will not now be able to do so. The 8-to-1 vote by the Board of Supervisors means San Francisco is the first city in the US to take this step – and the decis
May 15, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

Lawmakers in San Francisco have voted to outlaw the use of facial recognition tools.

It is a move which will have implications for police surveillance – and also for transit agencies.

It was reported last year that Bay Area Rapid Transit (7357 Bart) was considering the introduction of face recognition software on its cameras, for example – but Bart will not now be able to do so.

The 8-to-1 vote by the Board of Supervisors means San Francisco is the first city in the US to take this step – and the decision may form a precedent which other cities feel bound to follow.

Some police forces are already using live facial recognition (LFR) tools for surveillance.

Civil liberties group Big Brother Watch said last year that the London Metropolitan Police’s use of LFR in public spaces was “98% inaccurate – it identified people correctly only 2% of the time”. Elsewhere in the UK, South Wales Police’s live facial recognition “was inaccurate 91% of the time and had resulted in the misidentification of 2,451 people”.

In an interim report earlier this year, the UK government’s Biometrics and Forensics Ethics Group concluded: “There are a number of questions about: the accuracy of LFR technology; its potential for biased outputs and biased decision-making on the part of system operators; and an ambiguity about the nature of current deployments.”

Detection, Monitoring & Machine Vision

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Here’s HD AV map prepared for 5G
    June 17, 2019
    The emergence of 5G may not be necessary to provide a high-definition map for autonomous driving, says Matt Preyss from Here Technologies. Ben Spencer asks why 5G is a hot topic worldwide, with the potential for faster transfer of information eagerly awaited by those convinced that it will be a game-changer for the ITS industry. High-definition (HD) maps are essential to allow autonomous vehicles (AVs) to understand their environment, and operate safely within it in relation to other road users and p
    Read More
  • Artificial intelligence changes Idemia’s image
    May 13, 2021
    Idemia pledges to make life safer for VRUs with new products based around existing technology, Jean-Paul Baldacci tells Adam Hill
    Read More
  • Knowing when to slow down
    August 8, 2018
    Level 2 driver assistance vehicles have little problem reading fixed metal signs at the roadside - but it’s a different story with VMS in tunnels, finds Alan Dron. Following a series of hands-free driving tests in tunnels, an Australian road authority believes that car manufacturers have to up their game before vehicles have the required levels of competence to consistently perform ‘assisted driving’ tasks. The trials, in the state of Victoria late last year, tested the ability of several vehicles to stay
    Read More
  • Confusing funding and financing can be costly
    September 23, 2014
    Tolling may be the way forward for paying for the roads of the future - but where will concessionaires find the money and do they need funding or financing? Increasingly, governments around the world are concluding that they can no longer pay for new roads and are turning to the private sector for help.
    Read More

Highlighted Content