California FRT Opponents Shoot Down Another Regulatory Effort

Another attempt to establish a regulatory framework for the police use of facial recognition in California has failed.

California Assembly Bill 1814 (AB 1814) was introduced by Assembly Member Phil Ting near the start of this year. The bill sought to prohibit law enforcement agencies and peace officers from using FRT matches as the sole basis for probable cause in arrests or searches. It also would have prevented judges from granting warrants based solely on FRT matches.

The legislation defined facial recognition technology as a system that compares images of unidentified faces against databases of known faces to generate possible matches. It required officers using FRT to carefully examine results and consider the possibility of inaccurate matches.

To enforce these provisions, the bill proposed allowing courts to award damages up to $25,000 and reasonable attorney’s fees to individuals subjected to violations.

While AB 1814 passed the California Assembly, it ultimately died in the Senate Appropriations Committee last week. This marked the third time in five years that California rejected a bill that would have allowed government use of facial recognition technology under certain conditions.

The bill faced significant opposition from civil rights groups, racial justice advocates, and others who argued for a complete ban on government facial recognition use rather than limited regulations. Critics contended that AB 1814 would have effectively legitimized and expanded law enforcement use of facial recognition technology under the guise of regulating it, leading to its eventual failure in the legislative process.

Source: ACLU California Action

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August 22, 2024 – by the FindBiometrics Editorial Team