California Assembly Approves Ban of Body Cam Facial Recognition

“The legislation not only bans the live use of facial recognition through police body camera feeds, but also bans the application of this technology to any data collected through such cameras.”

The California Assembly has voted in favor of a piece of legislation – Assembly Bill 1215 – aimed at banning the use of facial recognition technology through body-worn police cameras.

As the Tenth Amendment Center reports, the bill passed the Assembly Public Safety Committee in April with a seven-to-two vote. Its passage through the Assembly came through a 45-17 vote. The legislation not only bans the live use of facial recognition through police body camera feeds, but also bans the application of this technology to any data collected through such cameras.

The bill is not yet law, as it must now move to the state’s Senate for consideration. Nevertheless, its passage through the Assembly is the latest indication of growing legislative resistance to the spread of biometric surveillance technology in California, with the San Francisco Board of Supervisors having proposed a facial recognition ban in January, and Oakland’s Privacy Commission having approved a proposed ban on the city’s use of such technology earlier this month.

This reflects a larger tension taking shape across the country as law enforcement and other government agencies increasingly deploy facial recognition technologies in public settings, and as businesses also embrace such technologies for their own purposes, with Illinois’ recent Supreme Court ruling on the latter marking perhaps the most significant development yet.

Source: Tenth Amendment Center

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May 13, 2019 – by Alex Perala