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Facial Recognition Is Law Enforcement’s Newest Weapon Against Protesters
Police in Seattle, Austin, and Dallas, as well as the FBI have asked for images of violence and protests
As protests engulf the country following the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police, law enforcement agencies with extensive facial recognition capabilities are now asking the public for footage of activists.
Police in Seattle, Austin, and Dallas, as well as the FBI, have all asked for video or images that can be used to find violence and destruction during protests over the weekend.
“Hopefully, we can pick her image up. If we can, we can do facial recognition, hopefully, and you know then we’d [sic] able to shed some more light on that,” police commissioner Thomas Carter of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, said in a virtual press conference, referring to a woman who allegedly smashed a police car window and punched an officer.
Because there are no federal or state laws that require transparency for government use of facial recognition technology, there’s no way to know how the technology is being used
