Image Recognition
by Kathryn Carley, Commonwealth News ServiceLawmakers in the Commonwealth are considering legislation to ensure police use of facial-recognition technology also protects people’s privacy and civil rights. Massachusetts was one of the first states to implement restrictions on the technology as part of a sweeping police reform law in 2020. A special legislative commission, which included police and civil liberties activists, then developed even greater restrictions on use of facial-recognition software. Kade Crockford, Technology for Liberty program director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, called the latest bill a ‘win,’ both for police and the public. Facial-recognition technology can be faulty and has resulted in the false arrests and incarceration of people across the country.