On Facial Recognition Technology
Abstract
Since the beginning of the 2000s, Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) has become significantly more accurate and more accessible. Both government and commercial entities use it in increasingly innovative approaches. News agencies use it to spot celebrities at big events. Car companies install it on dashboards to alert drivers falling asleep at the wheel. Governments have used it to track Covid-19 patients’ compliance with quarantine regimes, or to reunite missing children with their families. However, as the use of technology has become more widespread, the controversies around it have also grown. The technology offers tremendous opportunities, but there are reasons to be concerned about its impact on privacy and civil liberties, if it is not used properly. In this paper, I make a brief introduction to facial recognition technology, look separately at commercial and government applications of it, and present my argument why the US needs a federal legislation on FRT.
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