City Halls Use Facial Recognition To Blacklist And Ban Residents

By MassPrivateI

I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so. Local governments and private corporations are using facial recognition to secretly blacklist people, despite having no valid reason to do so.

A recent article in the Idaho Statesman, and in the video below, proves that local governments are using facial recognition to ban residents from accessing city-owned buildings.

The Boise city council claimed that they need facial recognition cameras to protect public employees from disgruntled or unwelcome residents.

Wow, there must be a lot of disgruntled or unhappy residents for the city council to justify putting facial recognition cameras in Boise City Hall and City Hall West, right?

Would you believe both city halls have banned just one single resident because he opposed using city funds to pay for an NBA developmental league team.

His ban apparently did not last very long, because Mike Journee, a spokesman for Mayor David Bieter, said, “no one is currently banned from City Hall.”

So if no one is currently banned from City Hall why install facial recognition cameras? Could the government use facial recognition to quell dissent? How many people will refuse to complain or speak out because law enforcement could use it to identify them?

The Statesman revealed that “the technology would be used to identify people who are banned from City Hall for any reason.”

Journee also admitted that there is no “specific instance” that could justify installing facial recognition cameras on city property. So if there is no “specific instance” or reason to use facial recognition to identify unwelcome people, why use it?

To create secret blacklists and quell dissent of course.

Credit: Global Railways

The government already uses facial recognition to create a secret “No-Fly List” (blacklist) of citizens and now watchlists and blacklists are creeping into public transit. Private corporations, bars and nightclubs are also using facial recognition to identify and blacklist customers and sports fans.

Everyone should take notice when the mass-media admits what I have been saying for years: facial recognition is being used to blacklist people for any reason.

It is time to face facts, the feds and law enforcement are secretly using facial recognition to track and identify anyone of interest.

Law enforcement’s unfettered access to facial recognition and drivers licenses is a privacy nightmare.

Miami state Rep. Michael Grieco told the Orlando Sentinel, “I feel like we’re taking a step backwards; it’s like the wild west with privacy.”

Alvaro Bedoya, the founding director of Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy & Technology told NPR,

In Washington, Utah and Vermont — ICE agents are actually taking advantage of that (facial recognition) to secretly find and deport those people using face recognition technology.

Not only is law enforcement secretly using facial recognition to identify people but they are using it to deport immigrants or undesirables. What more proof do we need that facial recognition is not a public safety issue, it is a public watchlist and blacklist issue.

You can read more at the MassPrivateI blog, where this article first appeared.

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