As the utilization of facial recognition programming in the
private sector is on the high very aggressively and exponentially, a proposed
amendment to the Chicago municipal code would now enable organizations to
utilize this facial recognition innovation, as indicated by the Electronic
Frontier Foundation (EFF).
The EFF proceeds to state that this law would likewise
disregard the Illinois Biometric Information Act (BIPA) including further that
it could "invade biometric and location privacy, and violate a pioneering
state privacy law adopted by Illinois a decade ago.”
EFF went ahead to add
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"At its core,
facial recognition technology is an extraordinary menace to our digital
liberties. Unchecked, the expanding proliferation of surveillance cameras,
coupled with constant improvements in facial recognition technology, can create
a surveillance infrastructure that the government and big companies can use to
track everywhere we go in public places, including who we are with and what we
are doing.
This system will deter
law-abiding people from exercising their First Amendment rights in public
places. Given continued inaccuracies in facial recognition systems, many people
will be falsely identified as dangerous or wanted on warrants, which will subject
them to unwanted—and often dangerous—interactions with law enforcement. This
system will disparately burden people of colour, who suffer a higher 'false
positive' rate due to additional flaws in these emerging systems."
The proposition looks to include a section of "Face
Geometry Data" to the city's municipal code which would enable
organizations to utilize the disputable face reconnaissance frameworks
compatible to the licensing agreements with the Chicago Police Department.
The law basically requires organizations to acquire
informed, opt-in consent from people before gathering biometric data from them,
or revealing it to an outsider and also secure storage for the biometric data
all the while setting a three-year constrain on maintenance of the acquired
data after which it must be deleted.
The EFF has likewise not been in support of the FBI's
accumulation of colossal databases of biometric information on Americans. The
Next Generation Identification (NGI) incorporates fingerprints, face
recognition, iris outputs and palm prints. The data is accumulated amid arrests
and non-criminal cases, for example, immigration, individual verifications or
background checks and state licensing.
Regardless of the huge potential the facial recognition
technology and biometric innovation in general, holds for the increased
welfare, keeping in mind the national security and the advancements to cyber
security, many have advisedly forewarned that the technology should be improved
before its continual utilization before something extreme impacts the users.
