18 newyork| november25–december8, 2019
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Orgotonymag.comtorespondtoindividualstories.28 newyork| november 11242019 november 11 24 20 19 | new york 29MARCongressconsidersbanning (^14) facial
recognitionhennohingdoes THERE WILL BE NO^
TURNING BACK ON FACI AL RECOGNITIONBy Lane Brown
HIS MARCHand Democratic senator Brian Schatz introduced the Commercial Facial Recognition Pri REPUBLICAN senator Roy Blunt
va cy Act, a bill that would prohfrom using facial recognition to track you in publc It was the kind of commonbit companies sense bipar
ti san proposal that almost everybody can agree with; the bill was referred to a Senate committe e and never made t to a vote This has been,
neshow for itss and protest and gestures toward action with no Facial recognmore or less, the pattern for this techt on just keeps eating the worimitation to creepid That
goes doubly for law enforcement, where the principle of consent is not exactly paramountOn Friday, August 16, at around 7 a (^) m, a pair of suspcious ap
tionpliana garicans foundr ManhaonWestonttana subway16thand,anStreephmtertially,, a thirat thepoliceFultond wasthoughtStrfound neareet stathey
mightexplodebeharmlessTrainsprovisedemptywere delaricebombs,cookyedbuters,forohoursprobablyduringpectionmeantthethetoy turnedmorning scare but not outcomto
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and a secretive ar(and maybe using our noses) by tech companies, wrecking apparatus that now surrounds us, bu of data brokers and othe lt under our nosesaw enforcement, d parties^
underdogIn 2019, facial it wa gnition maly the ourthy have gradu or fifthm ightening thing from dystopian
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PREDICTIONS
November 11 (^24 2019) ®
The Weirdness Is ComingAN ISSUE ABOUT THE FUTURE
Comme ts
1 NewYork’s “FutureIssue”examined
theeventsof 2019 that providea win-
dowintowhatlifemightlooklike tenyears
fromnow(“Todayin 20 29,”November
11–2 4 ). CNET’s ScottSteinwrote,“I really
enjoyedbrowsingthrough@NYMag’s Fu-
tureWeirdnessissue.Thenextdecade,
though,willbenearlyimpossibletopre-
dict fromeventsofthepast year. I think
it’ ll bea lotweirder.”@mishraGkabeta
added,“Avery Orwellianpicturepainted
here.Societalchangesare slow. 2009 isn’t
verydifferentfrom 20 19,and 2029
probablywon’t bemuchdifferentfrom
2019 ...Goodarticlefora timecapsule.”
Otherreadersglommedontospecific
forecasts.@charlottejeetweeted,“Love
thewaythispredictswe’lldrinkCham-
pagnefromEnglandin2029.Darling,
someofusaredoingthat already.”Com-
menterrdibelkarespondedtoonechef ’s
predictionsthat we’d beeatingfriedfrogs’
legsina decade:“I can’t say there wasthat
bigofa jumpfrom2009,oreven1999.
Thisseemsmore reasonablefor30-50
years;andit’ s nearimpossibletopredict
anythingthat farinthefuture. Thatbeing
said,I’dsmashthosefroglegs.” Howard
Jay Meyer noted how prescient one
entry—thatyouwillhavetowina lottery
toseeSt.Mark’s Basilica—was:“Who
wouldhaveimaginedthatwhenyouwent
topresstwoweeksagoVenicewouldbe
underwaterlastweekwiththethreatof
furtherfloodingthis week?”AndTess
Maloneasked,“Anyoneelsehaveananxi-
ety attackreadingtheFutureissue? Cool!”
2 Aspart ofthespecialissue, Lane
Brownpredicted“ThereWillBe No
TurningBackonFacialRecognition”(No-
vember11–24).TheBronxDefenders,a
public-defensenonprofit,wrote,“Facial
recognitionis widelyusedbylaw enforce-
mentanddangerouslytrustedwithtoo
muchconfidence.One of ourclients
couldn’t gethiscasedismissedduetothe
prosecutor’s ‘undyingfaiththat thesoft-
waredoesn’t getit wrong,’ despiteallevi-
dence.”TheWallStreetJournal’s Leigh
Kamping-Carderwrote,“Noneofthisstuff
is exactlynew,andyet I foundthis...piece
onfacialrecognitionhaunting.I can’tstop
thinkingaboutit—abouthow, nomatter
whatyoudoandwhatprecautionsyou
take, techwillswallowyouintoitsbot-
tomlessmaw.” Othersweremore resigned
to the future of facial recognition.
@joelmarkwitt wrote,“Weshouldallstart
livingasif theworldis watchingourevery
moveandknowsouridentity. Don’t fight
it.Just liveoutloudandbethesamein
publicandprivate.Onlyway aroundthis
technologyis radicaltransparency.”
3 IrinCarmonexploredthefuture of
self-managedabortion(“We’llPer-
formAbortionsatHome,”November11–
24 ). DanielGrossman,a physicianand
public-healthresearcherinterviewedfor
thearticle,wrote,“A few yearsago,people
laughedatmefortheideaofdemedicaliz-
ingabortion.AndnowI havea grantthat
issupportingresearchtobuildtheevi-
dencebaseto explorewhetherthisis pos-
sible.” NancyNorthup,presidentandCEO
oftheCenterforReproductiveRights,re-
monwritesofa post-Roe
clinicswouldcloseen
masseandpatientswouldneedtotravel
hundredsofmilestoa clinicorself-manage
theirabortion.Thatisnota loomingfu-
ture; it is our current reality. Today, nearly
90 percent of U.S. counties are without a
single abortion provider, and six states are
down to their last abortion clinic. As clinics
shutter, one major avenue for expanding
access is telemedicine, which can be used
to legally prescribe a medication abortion
to women who can’t reach a clinic. Many
states enthusiastically support telemedi-
cine as a way to expand health care but ban
abortion providers from using it. There are
a number of lawsuits currently challenging
telemedicine bans on abortion care, and
we are already seeing progress. Fourteen
states now allow abortion providers to use
telemedicine, extending access possibili-
ties for women hundreds of miles away. We
must use this tool and every tool we can to
regainlost ground.”
4 For the issue’s “Look Book,”^ New
Yo r k visited the Aperture Foundation
for the release of Antwaun Sargent’s pho-
tography book, The New Black Vanguard
(November 11–24). Fellow attendees at-
tested to the party goers’ good taste, with
@ HairflipMeghan writing, “Can confirm
that the crowd was extremely hip (and
the gallery was extremely crowded).”
@adgelet added, “I attended this event
and got to see the incredible fashion
firsthand. (I wore an Express jumpsuit bc
I wanted everyone to know I am from
New Jersey.)” Patricia.carr commented,
“Each and every look was exciting, inter-
esting, and so creative that I spent quite a
bit of time scrolling through this twice!”
WNYC’s Rebecca Carroll wrote, “This en-
tire Look Book is magic.”