The Boston Globe editorial board has endorsed a statewide moratorium on face surveillance technology, a key goal of the ACLU’s “Press Pause on Face Surveillance” campaign.
"It would be wise to approve that moratorium in the current legislative session, unless state lawmakers can somehow quickly come up with meaningful restrictions,” writes the editorial board. "Used indiscriminately, facial recognition threatens to upend our concept of anonymity, inhibit our freedoms of assembly and expression, and exacerbate racism in the justice system.”
The ACLU of Massachusetts launched “Press Pause on Face Surveillance” in June 2019 to build awareness about the civil liberties concerns posed by face surveillance and the need to pass a statewide moratorium on the government’s use of the technology. An ACLU-backed bill currently before legislators on Beacon Hill would establish a statewide moratorium on government use of face surveillance and other biometric screening technologies until the legislature imposes checks and balances to protect the public’s interest. Meanwhile, municipalities like Cambridge, Northampton, Brookline, and Somerville are taking action to bring this technology under democratic control by introducing and enacting municipal prohibitions on government use.
Read the full editorial here.
Read more about the "Press Pause on Face Surveillance Campaign" here.