“I personally don’t want Big Sister watching me
unless there are some rules, unless I know that
it’s effective, that it works, that it’s doing its job
and that it’s being regulated,” Creem said. “None
of that is happening right now.”
The bill includes a preamble that finds that
the “government use of face recognition
poses unique and significant civil rights
and civil liberties threats to the residents” of
Massachusetts and that “face recognition
technology has a history of being far less
accurate in identifying the faces of women,
young people, and dark skinned people.”
It would make it illegal for any government
official “to acquire, possess, access, or use any
biometric surveillance system, or acquire,
possess, access, or use information derived from
a biometric surveillance system operated by
another entity.”
Critics say facial recognition efforts by
government agencies often happen in secret
or go unnoticed. The Massachusetts Registry
of Motor Vehicles has used the technology since
2006 to prevent driver’s license fraud. Some
police agencies have used it as a tool
for detectives.
The technology’s reliability has also been called
into question.