Eric Adams is the New York City Mayor Increase law enforcement’s adoption of facial recognition technologyIn an attempt to reduce the city’s gun violence, he created this software. Experts believe the software may violate privacy and civil liberties due to secret surveillance and its propensity to inaccuracy.
“We will…move forward on using the latest technology to identify problems, follow up on leads, and collect evidence. Adams said that Adams would use all available technology, from facial recognition to the detection of weapons-wielding people to ensure their safety. Press releaseHis plan was addressed last month. It is also what he calls for in his Blueprint to End Gun Violence
New York Police Department (NYPD), uses facial recognition software for matching photos to those stored in their mugshot database. Also, images from social media sites are used by NYPD. These images are then used to locate someone using the 15,000 cameras located throughout New York City. Amnesty International report Warning about the possible invasiveness of this program
Michael Sisitzky (senior policy counsel, American Civil Liberties Union) in New York tells ReasonNew York’s existing surveillance capabilities can now track who and where they go. With more facial recognition software and surveillance likely to target minorities, he says that spying will only get worse. He mentions: Government report by the National Institute of Standards and Technology,Which said that facial recognition software was the most popular Misidentified Asians and African Americans are 10 to 100x more likely than white faces to be misidentified. Sisitzky claims that facial recognition software could misidentify minorities, leading to police targeting innocents.
Sisitzky states that “the NYPD already targets African Americans indisproportionate amounts, so combining facial recognition software with it would make things worse.” Detroit Robert WilliamsAfter facial recognition software incorrectly identified him as another man looking for shoplifting watches, Williams was taken into custody. DataWorks Plus supplied the facial recognition software used to catch Williams by Detroit police.
Experts in surveillance also suggested that facial recognition software could be misused or inaccurate. Jameson SpivackA policy associate is at Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy & TechnologyAccording to, an organization that studies surveillance law, matching technology cannot be used for positive identification. It assigns probabilities to determine how closely a face is similar. Spivack said that mistakes can occur, and the software could misunderstand two faces as matching. It also might mistake the same facial expression in two photos for not matching.
Spivack claims that current NYPD methods are not scientific. Spivack cites the following: Center on Privacy & Technology public records analysisThe NYPD sometimes used celebrity photos or photoshop them to match suspects, according to the cops. One instance was when the NYPD thought that a suspect in a security camera picture looked like Woody Harrelson. When they couldn’t find any matches with the suspect from security footage, they instead uploaded Harrelson. After the software found matches, police arrested one match they suspected to be the same as the suspect.
“What is alarming about this algorithm? It returned Woody Harrelson as a match for him even though the submission photo was not of him. Spivack said that it was Woody Harrelson.
Privacy and Technology Strategist Daniel SchwarzThe ACLU of New York stated that it endorsed the creation of a new law. BillNew York State would not allow law enforcement to use biometric surveillance (including facial recognition software) in order to locate people. The reason? Civil liberty and privacy issues. Sisitzky said that local governments in San Francisco (Oakland) and Seattle have banned facial recognition software. There is good reason to think New York State will too.