For Immediate Release
21 Civil Rights Groups Launch NYS Campaign To Ban Facial Recognition
(New York, NY 5/2/24) – Today, 21 civil rights groups, led by the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.), Amnesty International USA, New York Civil Liberties Union, The Legal Aid Society, Surveillance Resistance Lab, Fight for the Future, and the Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law at NYU Law, launched a public advocacy campaign to “Ban The Scan” in New York State. Submitting a sign-on letter to the New York State Assembly and Senate, the Ban The Scan coalition demands the passage of four bills banning facial recognition and other biometric technologies by law enforcement, residential buildings, public accommodations, and schools in New York State. The campaign comes shortly after a provision of the recently passed state budget included a ban on MTA’s use of facial recognition for fare enforcement on the New York City Subway, which S.T.O.P. celebrated as a major win for the coalition.
SEE: Ban The Scan campaign website
https://www.banthescan.org/
Sign-On Letter in Support of Facial Recognition Legislation
https://www.stopspying.org/sign-on-letters/2024/5/2/sign-on-letter-in-support-of-facial-recognition-legislation
Press Release - S.T.O.P. Welcomes MTA Facial Recognition Ban For Fare Enforcement
https://www.stopspying.org/latest-news/2024/4/29/stop-welcomes-mta-facial-recognition-ban-for-fare-enforcement
“Whether we’re going to the grocery store, learning at school, or entering our homes, facial recognition does not keep New Yorkers safe,” said Surveillance Technology Oversight Project Research & Advocacy Manager Corinne Worthington. “This racist technology also has no place in policing, because time and time again, we have seen how it disproportionately impacts communities of color, especially Black New Yorkers. We’re thrilled New York State has banned facial recognition for MTA fare enforcement, but lawmakers must keep up the momentum by passing these four essential bills to further protect New Yorkers from biometric surveillance.”
“Right now, law enforcement, private companies, landlords, and other government agencies use highly flawed, racially biased facial recognition technologies with free rein,” said Daniel Schwarz, Senior Privacy & Technology Strategist at the New York Civil Liberties Union. “To ensure that New Yorkers don’t live in a world where biometric surveillance constantly watches, tracks, and monitors their every move, the state legislature must take action and ban the use of this invasive technology.”
“Facial recognition technology has been weaponized by the police, landlords, and owners of public accommodations to discriminate against New Yorkers,” said The Legal Aid Society Digital Forensics Unit Staff Attorney Diane Akerman. “Over and over, we have seen the harm that results from the inevitable discriminatory use of surveillance technologies, with already overpoliced and over surveilled neighborhoods and New Yorkers bearing the brunt of the harm. Surveillance theater does not make New Yorkers safer. Use of this unreliable technology - whether in furtherance of petty grudges, turning schools into mini surveillance states, or leading to a wrongful arrest - cannot and should not be tolerated in New York State.”
Last month, S.T.O.P. condemned New York State’s funding of a facial recognition pilot program at New York City bodegas. Using $1 million in state funding, the program will install facial recognition cameras in bodegas across Upper Manhattan and the Bronx. In September, S.T.O.P. joined over 30 civil rights groups in submitting a memo of support demanding the New York City Council pass two pending bills banning facial recognition and other biometric technologies in residential buildings and public accommodations.
SEE: Press Release - S.T.O.P. Condemns State-Funded Bodega Facial Recognition Pilot
https://www.stopspying.org/latest-news/2024/3/27/stop-condemns-state-funded-bodega-facial-recognition-pilot
Press Release - 32 Civil Rights Groups Demand NYC Council Ban Facial Recognition
https://www.stopspying.org/latest-news/2023/9/26/32-civil-rights-groups-demand-nyc-council-ban-facial-recognition
The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project is a non-profit advocacy organization and legal services provider. 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.
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CONTACT: S.T.O.P. Executive Director Albert Fox Cahn, 571-766-6273, albert@stopspying.org.
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