Don’t Ban Facial-Recognition Technology. Regulate It.
Concerns are understandable. But with rules in place, the benefits will far outweigh the risks.
Not as scary as it looks.
Photographer: David McNew/AFP/Getty Images
San Francisco, long a vanguard of digital enlightenment, has just made a regressive mistake. This week, it became the first major city to prohibit its police force and government agencies from using facial-recognition technology.
Such a ban has an understandable appeal. Concerns about facial recognition are widespread among the public. In just a few years, the technology has advanced at a startling rate. Other countries are using it to repress their citizens, while Americans are accustomed to anonymity in public spaces. Abuses — accidental and otherwise — are all too easy to envision.