California lawmakers blocked a bill on Wednesday that could have expanded the use of facial recognition technology by companies and government, including law enforcement, as protesters nationwide continued to call out racism and unjust policing.
California Assemblymember Ed Chau, who introduced the bill, wrote in a CalMatters opinion article that it was meant to “regulate the use of facial recognition technology by commercial, state and local public entities.”
The American Civil Liberties Union noted the bill would “permit companies to sell face recognition technology to law enforcement even when they know their tech to be flawed and racially biased.”
“The bill invites tech companies and law enforcement to self-regulate their use of face recognition, and places no meaningful restrictions on their ability to deploy this invasive technology against the people of California.”
In Northern California, San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley have all banned government use of facial recognition technology in their jurisdictions.
