Forensics

BANNED: WHY FACIAL SURVEILLANCE IS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG

After weeks of protesting against racial injustice following the murder of George Floyd and calls for defunding and divestment from the police, Boston became the latest city (and largest on the east coast) to ban facial recognition software for surveillance.

With its city council delivering a veto-proof majority, the Massachusettes state capitol joined joins its neighbor, Sommerville, and cities across the country like Oakland and San Franciso in creating distance from this technology which Councilor Ricardo Arroyo described as having “an obvious racial bias.”

While this move may look progressive on its face, Kade Crockford, director of the ACLU of Massachusettes' Technology for Liberty Program, tells Inverse that activists shouldn't be resting on their laurels just yet.

"Police departments use many different surveillance technologies in ways that unfairly target Black and brown people," Crockford says. "License plate readers, surveillance cameras, social media surveillance, and even drones are just some examples.”