Yesterday, in an 11-0 vote, the Somerville City Council voted to ban the city from using facial recognition technology. It is the second city to do so, after San Francisco, and the first city outside of California. Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone, who has stated he supports it, is expected to sign it.
👤Somerville’s #FacialRecognitionBan PASSES unanimously!👤
Thank you to everyone who has worked to hard to bring us to this moment ✊️ https://t.co/afVbJDZtIB— Ben Ewen-Campen (@BenForWard3) June 28, 2019
Thank you to Somerville City Councilor Ben Ewen-Campen for proposing it, to everyone who contacted the Somerville City Council and to the many groups who advocated for it including the Massachusetts ACLU, EFF and Fight for the Future.
With this success the struggle to ban government use of facial recognition technology moves to the Massachusetts legislature and other cities, including Cambridge. We urge you to contact your Massachusetts representative and senator and tell them to oppose facial recognition surveillance and other “at a distance” biometric tracking technology by supporting two bills:
- S.1385, sponsored by Senator Creem
- H.1538, sponsored by Rep. Rogers
If you can help get an ordinance introduced in your municipality, please contact us. Together, we will win this struggle.
Yesterday, in an 11-0 vote, the Somerville City Council voted to ban the city from using facial recognition technology. It is the second city to do so, after San Francisco, and the first city outside of California. Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone, who has stated he supports it, is expected to sign it.
Thank you to Somerville City Councilor Ben Ewen-Campen for proposing it, to everyone who contacted the Somerville City Council and to the many groups who advocated for it including the Massachusetts ACLU, EFF and Fight for the Future.
With this success the struggle to ban government use of facial recognition technology moves to the Massachusetts legislature and other cities, including Cambridge. We urge you to contact your Massachusetts representative and senator and tell them to oppose facial recognition surveillance and other “at a distance” biometric tracking technology by supporting two bills:
If you can help get an ordinance introduced in your municipality, please contact us. Together, we will win this struggle.