San Francisco tweaks facial recognition ban that made it illegal for city employees to use iPhones
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San Francisco tweaks facial recognition ban that made it illegal for city employees to use iPhones
Keeping up with new technologies will require more carefully written laws
In brief: The San Francisco administration's ban on the use of facial recognition has had the surprising side effect of making devices like newer iPhones illegal to use by municipal workers. Officials are now tweaking the law to allow their use while still maintaining a strict ban on using facial recognition features.
While San Francisco may have been the first US city to place a blanket ban on facial recognition, it's also the first to have learned that it isn't the best of ideas. The city's Board of Supervisors wanted to ensure accountability around the use of surveillance technology and facial recognition, but that inadvertently extended to outlaw the use of Face ID for iPhone users.
According to a report from Wired, San Francisco officials realized that a lot of city-issued iPhones were now illegal to use even with Face ID disabled, so they scrambled to amend the law last week. The changes still apply to the use of Apple's facial recognition feature as well as the alternatives, but the purchase and use of mobile devices that have it is now allowed.
Municipal agencies can now make the case that a particular device is the only viable solution that covers their needs, and workers will have to turn off facial recognition and use passcodes.
Other cities like Somerville and Oakland have adopted similar bans that now include a list of exemptions for personal phones used by municipal workers. As more cities follow suit, they're also using more careful language in the new legislation. The American Civil Liberties Union says it's reach