Maine's most populous city bans facial recognition (original) (raw)

(The Center Square) – Facial recognition systems are increasingly being used by law enforcement to catch criminals, protect against security threats and prevent fraud, but the technology is also stirring debate over privacy and racial profiling.

In Maine, voters in the state's largest city recently enacted one of the toughest facial recognition bans in the country in the Nov. 3 elections, outlawing both use of the technology by local police and the city government.

Voter approval of the measure codifies – and added enforcement teeth – to a ban on the public use of facial recognition software passed in August by the Portland City Council, which privacy advocates say fell short on sanctions for violating the rules.

The new law allows citizens to sue the city for illegal facial recognition surveillance by the city police or government. Citizens could get up to $1,000 per violation plus legal fees, if they prevail in court. Municipal employees can be fired for violating the ban.

Law enforcement says the technology makes it easier to acquire information about potential suspects and threats than other biometric identifiers, such as fingerprints, which require close proximity and physical contact to obtain.

Each face has about 80 unique "nodal points" – across the eyes, nose, cheek and mouth – that distinguish one person from another. Facial recognition software matches real-time images to previous images by comparing those points and other features, similar to the way fingerprints are analyzed.

The federal Department of Homeland Security scans faces of foreign travelers at many of the country’s largest airports, and it plans to expand its surveillance to every traveler flying overseas.

More than 117 million Americans – more than one-third of the country – can be found in the vast facial-recognition databases used by law enforcement, according to a 2016 Georgetown Law School study.

Critics say the technology isn't ready for widespread use, and contributes to racial profiling.

Facial features change over time and aren’t always unique. Recent tests of the systems have found problems, particularly when it comes to identifying racial and ethnic minorities and people with darker skin.

Civil liberties groups have highlighted cases of Black men who've been wrongly identified as suspects in crimes by facial recognition systems.

"Face surveillance technology poses unprecedented threats to civil rights, civil liberties, and open, democratic society ," the ACLU of Maine wrote to Portland Councilors earlier this year, urging them to pass restrictions. "Constant surveillance has negative effects on health, well being, and community trust."

"If the government can track everyone who goes to a place of worship, a political rally, or seeks reproductive or substance use medical attention, we lose our freedom to speak our minds, freely criticize the government, pray to the god we want, and access healthcare in private," the group added.

Portland is one of only a handful of cities – including San Francisco, Northampton, Massachusetts and Portland, Oregon – to ban use of the technology.