The measure, introduced to the legislative body by Springfield City Councilor Orlando Ramos in January, will now go to Mayor Domenic Sarno’s office, though he has previously said he will veto any such ordinance.
Springfield joins four other communities in Massachusetts in attempting to ban the municipal use of facial recognition technology. Somerville was the first in the state to restrict the local government’s use of the tech outright in June 2019. Similar ordinances have been passed in Brookline, Northampton and Cambridge, and a statewide moratorium is currently under consideration.
“Accurate or not, face surveillance threatens our most basic rights, enabling governments to identify who attends protests, church, or AA meetings on an unprecedented scale,” Kade Crockford, director of the Technology for Liberty Program at the ACLU of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “We are grateful for the Springfield City Council’s leadership on this issue.”
The unregulated use of facial recognition technology has prompted concerns from advocates, lawmakers and even some in law enforcement about the software’s impact on personal privacies and civil rights. Those who work with artificial intelligence have also pointed to the fact that the technology frequently misidentifies people of color, women and elderly people.
Last year, the ACLU of Massachusetts launched its “Press Pause on Face Surveillance” campaign, which aims to raise awareness about the potential risks of facial recognition and the need to pass a statewide moratorium.
“Studies continue to demonstrate that face surveillance technology is biased on race, gender, and age—and far from ready for government use,” Crockford said in her statement.
The city’s moratorium on the software would last until 2025 if signed into law. Ramos has said he would like the issue to automatically reappear on the city council’s agenda again in the coming years and that the legislative body could reconsider the measure sooner than five years. The city councilor wants to allow police to come back to the council in the future if the software improves in accuracy and law enforcement wants to use it under limited circumstances, he said.
Ramos told MassLive in December that he introduced the ordinance due to three main reasons: to avoid potential litigation, protect the public from unnecessary surveillance and prevent possible mistreatment of marginalized communities.
Springfield Police Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood, along with Sarno, opposes the ban. Both have argued the technology could prove effective in fighting crime someday in the future. The software is not being used by the city currently, and it is not being pursued, Clapprood said.
The Springfield City Council could override a veto from Sarno on the legislation with a two-thirds vote.
The council previously proposed another ban on facial recognition in 2019, though the measure died in committee.
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