URGENT: Facial recognition technology is spreading quickly

Chip In to Fund the Campaign to Ban Facial Recognition

John,

Facial recognition surveillance technology is expanding at a dangerous rate:

Clearview AI recently applied for a patent for facial recognition that can be used to stalk people on dating apps.¹

Another company with military contracts is applying for a patent on facial recognition in drones that can identify people from above.²

Schools are adopting facial recognition technology at an accelerated rate in response to COVID-19, putting kids under constant surveillance without understanding the long term psychological effects.³

And the sale of biometric systems like facial recognition is likely to nearly double to $68.6 billion annually by 2025.⁴

Things are moving quickly, and the work we do today is so important to making sure our world isn’t taken over by mass surveillance tools that threaten our rights, our safety, and our lives.

We’re attacking this problem on all fronts: government, law enforcement, and private use of facial recognition. Can you be a part of our team fighting for an end to facial recognition? Chip in today.

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I’m honestly scared about how quickly this technology is spreading. And in the past year, during the pandemic, companies have taken advantage of our situation to market their technology in more places: airports, schools, and as “touch free” solutions in stores.

BUT THERE IS ALSO GOOD NEWS: people are aware of the negative consequences of facial recognition and are calling for it to be banned.

More and more cities have banned government and law enforcement use of facial recognition, including Portland, OR, Portland, ME, Boston, New Orleans, Madison, WI, and Jackson, MS in 2020 (and, just this month, Minneapolis!).
Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM all paused the sale of their facial recognition technology to police in response to the protests to the murder of George Floyd last summer.
And lawmakers in Congress are paying attention and have introduced legislation to ban facial recognition.

Momentum is on our side. So this is the time to strike. We need to pass more local bans, move the federal legislation forward, and build more pressure to stop facial recognition from spreading to schools, stores, workplaces, and more.

Fight for the Future has been a leader in this work, and our campaigns have helped pave the way for the progress we’ve seen. We see so many new opportunities to shut down the spread of the technology in new arenas, and to target specific industries and get them to disavow facial recognition. But how much we’re able to do depends on the support of our grassroots donors like you.

Can you join us in the fight to stop facial recognition from spreading to all facets of our lives, and donate to make sure we can apply our strategic, powerful campaigning everywhere it’s needed?

Together, and against facial recognition,

Caitlin at Fight for the Future

P.S. To show you’re with us in this fight, we’ll send a ban facial recognition face mask cover to everyone who donates $35 or more. We’d love to send you one :)

Footnotes:

1. Buzzfeed News: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/carolinehaskins1/facial-recognition-clearview-patent-dating

2. Fast Company: https://www.fastcompany.com/90606400/facial-recognition-drone-patent-anyvision

3. Wired: https://www.wired.com/story/schools-adopt-face-recognition-name-fighting-covid/

4. Markets and Markets: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/biometric-technologies.asp

Fight for the Future works to protect your rights in the digital age.