Do you want your face to be used to track you?


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Dear John,

This week, the country’s largest police department will be making a crucial
decision about facial recognition technology. The New York Police Department
(NYPD) sets the tone for policing nationwide. And that’s why we need to send comments before their public comment period
deadline on Thursday, February 25th.

Over the next three days, help drive tens of thousands of messages to the NYPD. Let's flood their inbox: tell the NYPD to ban facial recognition technology.
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In the hands of the police, facial recognition technology is a threat to the
human rights of Black and Brown people throughout the U.S. This technology
amplifies the racially discriminatory police practices that are already
widespread — and as a tool of mass surveillance, it also prevents the free and
safe exercise of peaceful assembly and protest.

No one knows this better than Derrick ‘Dwreck’ Ingram, a 29-year old Black Lives
Matter organizer and New Yorker. Dwreck was besieged in his apartment by NYPD
officers for five hours in an attempted arrest without a warrant, after
allegedly assaulting a police officer by shouting loudly into a megaphone at a
protest. A reporter spotted one officer holding a document titled “Facial Identification Section Informational Lead Report,” revealing that facial recognition had likely been used to identify and track Dwreck.

Facial recognition technology is now widespread. Private companies have scraped billions of images from social media without
permission, and their products are already being used by police departments
nationwide in facial recognition systems. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has already used this technology to
surveil millions of people in the U.S. and intimidate undocumented immigrants.

ACT NOW
[[link removed]]When defenders of human rights speak out, we can win — major U.S. cities like
San Francisco, Boston, and Portland, Oregon have already done so.

But we’ve got just a few days before this decision is made.

It’s critical that the NYPD hears the voices of people from outside New York —
anyone who visits risks being captured in the NYPD’s facial recognition system.
Sending tens of thousands of messages during the official comment period will
show the NYPD and city leaders how important this is.

This critical comment window closes on February 25th, so take one minute to add
your voice: the NYPD cannot be allowed to use this discriminatory tool.
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Thank you.

Michael Kleinman
Director, Silicon Valley Initiative
Amnesty International USA

DONATE NOW
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