S.T.O.P. Condemns Police, Media Facial Recognition Search For Capital Attackers

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View this email in your browser For Immediate Release S.T.O.P. Condemns Police, Media Facial Recognition Search For Capitol Attackers   (NEW YORK, NY, 1/11/2021) – Today, the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.), a New York-based privacy group, condemns police and media outlet’s use of mass facial recognition to search for the insurrectionists who attacked the U.S. Capitol. Following last week’s attack, which killed five, the facial recognition vendor Clearview AI announced a 26% increase in search activity. Numerous law enforcement agencies and media outlets, ranging from the FBI to the New Yorker have also used facial recognition to investigate the attack.   SEE: N.Y. Times – The facial-recognition app Clearview sees a spike in use after Capitol attack. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/technology/facial-recognition-clearview-capitol.html?searchResultPosition=1   New Yorker – An Air Force Combat Veteran Breached the Senate https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/an-air-force-combat-veteran-breached-the-senate   WTHR – Cameras that caught Capitol rioters in the act are now helping police catch up with them https://www.wthr.com/article/news/crime/capitol-riot-protesters-camera-fbi-investigation/531-f394769e-ab90-4e11-8d62-243c7b93822c   “We must not allow this chilling attack to normalize biased and dangerous technology,” said Surveillance Technology Oversight Project Executive Director Albert Fox Cahn. “Facial recognition remains a clear danger to the American people, even in the face of this insurrection. Just as we saw after 9/11, once we make exceptions for the ‘worst of the worst,’ we eventually target BIPOC communities and the poorest of the poor. Our police are incapable of lawfully using such surveillance without systemic and deadly bias. But facial recognition likely isn’t even necessary. After months of open planning online, real-time social media confessions, and thousands of tips already made to the FBI, almost all of the insurrectionists can be caught with nothing more advanced than a phone call and a wanted poster.”   The civil rights group has supported several bans on facial recognition technology, including a ban on facial recognition in schools which was signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo last month.   SEE: Wired – The Capitol Attack Doesn’t Justify Expanding Surveillance https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-the-capitol-attack-doesnt-justify-expanding-surveillance/   S.T.O.P. Commends Cuomo For Signing School Facial Recognition Ban https://www.stopspying.org/latest-news/2020/12/22/stop-commends-cuomo-for-signing-school-facial-recognition-ban   Cahn continued, “when media outlets use facial recognition to investigate this attack, they normalize a technology that should have no place in our society. When they then hand those facial recognition results over to police, it further blurs the line. How can outlets like the New Yorker cover the national debate over facial recognition if they are using it themselves?” The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project is a non-profit advocacy organization and legal services provider hosted by the Urban Justice Center. S.T.O.P. litigates and advocates for privacy, fighting excessive local and state-level surveillance. Our work highlights the discriminatory impact of surveillance on Muslim Americans, immigrants, and communities of color.   - END – Copyright © 2019 Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.