03/11/2023
Human Rights Watch says that intelligent software that enables facial recognition will always bad news for LGBTQIA people, black people, and minorities everywhere. In their daily digest bulletin, the New York based international NGO reports: "The use of facial recognition surveillance technology has expanded rapidly in recent years. Governments employ it to scan, identify, and profile people en masse. They use it in Iran to spy on protests, in China to target people based on their ethnicity, and in Russia to curb political dissent. Around the world, facial recognition systems with artificial intelligence (AI) are employed to monitor and control us in public spaces. And their use is spreading. Many countries, like Israel and the United Kingdom are planning to roll out even more. The danger to our fundamental freedoms is clear: facial recognition surveillance technology amounts to mass surveillance. It undermines our privacy rights and threatens our rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. It’s also a menace to our right to equality and freedom from discrimination. As with many newer technologies, facial recognition surveillance exacerbates existing structural inequalities and hits marginalized and vulnerable folks hardest. In short: the powerful have a new tool against the powerless." The good news is that a coalition of around two hundred organisations concerned with civil liberties, campaigning and human rights, have come together to lobby governments and companies to stop using facial recognition surveillance in public spaces. The latest draft of the European Union’s AI Act shows an increased commitment to banning facial recognition surveillance in public spaces. Human Rights Watch concludes: "We have a right to walk around in public places without being followed as if we were criminal suspects. We have a right to gather as we choose. We have a right to live freely."
