John,
This makes me sick: facial recognition companies are taking advantage of a world-wide crisis to promote their invasive tech.1 As if that wasn't bad enough, Washington State just passed a facial recognition bill that was literally written by a Microsoft employee.2
Tech companies are still looking for any opportunity to spread their dangerous facial recognition technology. There's no question that we need to keep fighting to stop this, especially as governments are taking unprecedented actions to stop the spread of COVID-19. Facial recognition does not keep us safe and should not be a part of the response to the pandemic. Take action right now to call for a ban of facial recognition to stop it from expanding during this crisis.
It was only a few weeks ago that people and elected officials were coming out against Clearview—the sketchy company using facial recognition to identify people from billions of images scraped from across the Internet. But now, just weeks later, this company is in talks with governments about how to use their tech to track peoples’ every move.3
At the same time, facial recognition in airports is being touted by US Customs and Border Protection as safe and hygienic.4
The problems with facial recognition before COVID-19 haven’t changed: it threatens our basic rights, it’s invasive, biased, and vulnerable to hackers. At a time when we’re all focused on safety, opening the door to facial recognition is the wrong thing to do.
We need to keep calling for a ban on facial recognition, even while we’re focused on the health crisis. If we don’t, tech companies will exploit our fear and the fact that we’re distracted and facial recognition will spread.
Once facial recognition is put in place it’s likely that the government will continue to use it, even after this crisis has subsided. If they track our movements now, they could keep tracking them forever. We can’t let this happen.
Take a minute to sign the petition for a ban on facial recognition. Let your lawmakers know that this tech is not a tool for curtailing the spread of COVID-19.
Together,
Caitlin at Fight for the Future
Footnotes:
1. One Zero: https://onezero.medium.com/facial-recognition-companies-see-the-coronavirus-as-a-business-opportunity-6c9b99d60649
2. One Zero: https://onezero.medium.com/a-microsoft-employee-literally-wrote-washingtons-facial-recognition-legislation-aab950396927
3. Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/articles/to-track-virus-governments-weigh-surveillance-tools-that-push-privacy-limits-11584479841
4. Twitter: https://twitter.com/OFODEAC/status/1238866399524724736
Fight for the Future works to protect your rights in the digital age.
