(FRT) to be banned in United States

By: Syed Shahzaib Haider

People in US started to call it racially discriminatory and racial profiling of Black people the use of Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) could aggravate human rights violations by police, while also discouragement the right to peaceful protest and the right to privacy. The Law of (FRT) is violating people’s human rights daily out on the streets. Police by using the FRT technology is not helping people in US and their right to protest peacefully. Law enforcement agencies are responsible to facilitate the right to peaceful protest – not suppress it

People across United States are standing by the organizations like Algorithmic Justice League,  ACLU and others who have highlighted the dangers of FRT. Amnesty calls for a ban on the use, development, production, sale and export of facial recognition technology. Facial recognition technology is an umbrella term that is used to describe a suite of applications that perform a specific task using a human face to verify or identify an individual. FRT can create a means to identify and categorize people at scale based on their physical features, including observations or inferences of protected characteristics for example, race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability status. It is widely observed that US police departments across the country are using FRT to identify protesters. 

FRT violates human rights in a number of different ways. First, in the context of racially discriminatory policing and racial profiling of Black people, the use of FRT could worsen human rights violations by police in their targeting of Black communities. Research has consistently found that FRT systems process some faces more accurately than others, depending on key characteristics including skin color, ethnicity and gender. For instance, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) measured the effects of race, age and sex on leading FRT systems used in the US according to Dr. Charles H. the Director of NIST, “the study measured higher false positives rates in women, African Americans, and particularly in African American women”.

It involves bulk monitoring, collection, storage, analysis or other use of material and collection of sensitive personal data (biometric data) without individualized reasonable suspicion of criminal wrongdoing which sums to indiscriminate mass surveillance. Amnesty International believes that indiscriminate mass surveillance is never a proportionate interference with the rights to privacy, freedom of expression, freedom of association and of peaceful assembly. Further (AI) demands the US government to withdraw from using the FRT Technology by the police and the other agencies. People in US want their estate to respect, protect and fulfil the right to peaceful assembly without discrimination. The right to peacefully assemble is fundamental not only as a means of political expression but also to safeguard other rights. Peaceful protests are a fundamental aspect of a vibrant society, and states should recognize the positive role of peaceful protest in strengthening human rights. Therefore, just as the mere threat of surveillance creates a chilling effect on the free expression of people’s online activities, the use of facial recognition technology will deter people from freely attending peaceful assemblies in public spaces.

The writer is Director of the Editorial Board at the ‘The Dayspring’, he can be reached at [email protected]