After years of  failed  attempts to curb surveillance technologies, Baltimore is close to enacting one of the nation’s most stringent bans on facial

Baltimore May Soon Ban Facial Recognition for Everyone but Cops

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2021-06-18 19:00:06

After years of failed attempts to curb surveillance technologies, Baltimore is close to enacting one of the nation’s most stringent bans on facial recognition. But Baltimore’s proposed ban would be very different from laws in San Francisco or Portland, Oregon: It would last for only one year, police would be exempt, and certain private uses of the tech would become illegal.

City councilmember Kristerfer Burnett, who introduced the proposed ban, says it was shaped by the nuances of Baltimore, though critics complain it could unfairly penalize, or even jail, private citizens who use the tech.

Last year, Burnett introduced a version of the bill that would have banned city use of facial recognition permanently. When that failed, he instead introduced this version, with a built-in one-year “sunset” clause requiring council approval to be extended. In early June, the city council voted in its favor, 12–2; it now awaits signature from Mayor Brandon Scott.

“It was important to begin to have this conversation now over the next year to basically hash out what a regulatory framework could look like,” Burnett says.

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