California will soon ban police from using facial recognition software on body cameras.
AB 1215 by Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) and signed into law by California Governor Gavin Newsom prohibits law enforcement from installing, activating, or using a facial recognition system in connection with a law enforcement agency’s body-worn camera.
Ting said, "It's not ready for prime time, as it falsely matches innocent people with mugshots, including me."
ACLU technology and civil liberties attorney Matt Cagle said "With this law, California has acted boldly to stem the expansion of a surveillance state that presents an unprecedented threat to our rights and liberties. ace-scanning police body cameras have no place on our streets, where they can be used for dragnet and discriminatory surveillance of people going about their private lives, including their locations and personal associations."
New Hampshire and Oregon also ban facial tracking software in body cameras, while San Francisco, Oakland, California, and Somerville, Mass., block use of facial recognition technology by police and other city agencies.
