{"id":505,"date":"2024-06-10T22:37:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-11T02:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/?p=505"},"modified":"2024-11-19T12:38:47","modified_gmt":"2024-11-19T17:38:47","slug":"lawmakers-look-to-limit-use-of-facial-recognition-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/2024\/06\/10\/lawmakers-look-to-limit-use-of-facial-recognition-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers look to limit use of facial recognition technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spectrum News NY1<\/a> | By\u00a0Louis Finley\u00a0Manhattan<\/p>\n

PUBLISHED 9:54 PM ET Jun. 10, 2024<\/p>\n

Technology that can identify a person through things like facial scans or fingerprints, for some, may be a thing of the future. But for a group of lawmakers, they say it\u2019s a problem now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m all too familiar with the negative consequences of using fear to justify excessive and bias surveillance,\u201d Councilmember Shahana Hanif said.<\/p>\n

\n

What You Need To Know<\/strong><\/h4>\n
A bill, which if passed, would limit the use of identification technology like facial recognition at businesses. Another bill would limit the use of the technology in residential buildings
Despite concerns with the identification technology, the pair of bills have been met with pushback
People in opposition said the bill limits the way business owners can protect themselves from retail theft
A 2018 Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University study found racial and gender disparities by the technology<\/h5>\n
\n

Hanif has introduced a bill, which if passed, that would limit the use of identification technology like facial recognition at businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis measure is critical in combating wrongful discrimination,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Another bill introduced would limit the use of this type of technology in residential buildings.<\/p>\n

\u201cFacial recognition, facial profiling, is at its core a racist tool that harms New Yorkers,\u201d Albert Fox Cahn, founder of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, said.<\/p>\n

A 2018 Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University study found the error rates for determining the gender of light-skinned men never exceeded 0.8%. In contrast, for darker-skinned women, the error rates were 34.7%.<\/p>\n

Last December, Rite Aid was banned by the Federal Trade Commission from using facial recognition technology for five years. This happened after the software used misidentified Blacks and Asians as likely shoplifters.<\/p>\n

Despite concerns with the technology, the pair of bills have been met with pushback.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the Council passes this bill, it would be depriving rent stabilized tenants and workers the safety which wealthy New Yorkers enjoy in their homes,\u201d Adam Roberts, policy director of Community Housing Improvement Program, said.<\/p>\n

People in opposition also said the bill limits the way business owners can protect themselves from retail theft.<\/p>\n

New Yorkers are divided on the issue.<\/p>\n

Some find value in the use of new technology to make life easier and to combat crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it helps in the way it\u2019s supposedly does, fine. For the racial disparity part about it, we\u2019re going to have that in everything new they come out with,\u201d Brooklyn resident Ivory Mays said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of theft. A lot of crime. Crime is only rising. So from a safety standpoint I think it would be very beneficial,\u201d Bronx resident Christopher Cedeno said.<\/p>\n

Other New Yorkers have concerns about the racial disparities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t love that Big Brother is always watching, and I do think there is a bias against minorities,\u201d Manhattan resident Caroline Sommers said.<\/p>\n

Another group is concerned about the safety of their information from hackers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just makes you too available for those out there who are looking to take advantage of the system,\u201d Manhattan resident Ron Sosenko said.<\/p>\n

The bill as is doesn\u2019t appear to have the number of votes needed to move the bill out of committee.<\/p>\n

[Read More]<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spectrum News NY1<\/a> | By\u00a0Louis Finley\u00a0Manhattan<\/p>\n

PUBLISHED 9:54 PM ET Jun. 10, 2024<\/p>\n

Technology that can identify a person through things like facial scans or fingerprints, for some, may be a thing of the future. But for a group of lawmakers, they say it\u2019s a problem now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m all too familiar with the negative consequences of using fear to justify excessive and bias surveillance,\u201d Councilmember Shahana Hanif said.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

READ MORE<\/a><\/small><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":289,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/289"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}