Newly released documents reveal the New York Police Department engaged in extensive and discriminatory surveillance using facial recognition technology. Amnesty International and the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project obtained over 2,700 records following a five-year lawsuit, which they state show the NYPD used the technology to monitor people based on racial and cultural profiling.
The documents indicate individuals were targeted for speaking a foreign language or wearing distinctive cultural clothing. The department also applied the technology to monitor political expression, investigating people who used protest slogans or appeared in music videos. Despite internal findings of high error rates that prompted the NYPD to stop tracking accuracy, it continued deploying the systems and spent millions on them.
The advocacy groups are now calling for a citywide ban on government use of facial recognition technology. They warn that these surveillance practices disproportionately affect Black and brown communities and create a chilling effect on free expression. Their push for legislation comes as international bodies emphasize that artificial intelligence must comply with human rights standards.
The documents indicate individuals were targeted for speaking a foreign language or wearing distinctive cultural clothing. The department also applied the technology to monitor political expression, investigating people who used protest slogans or appeared in music videos. Despite internal findings of high error rates that prompted the NYPD to stop tracking accuracy, it continued deploying the systems and spent millions on them.
The advocacy groups are now calling for a citywide ban on government use of facial recognition technology. They warn that these surveillance practices disproportionately affect Black and brown communities and create a chilling effect on free expression. Their push for legislation comes as international bodies emphasize that artificial intelligence must comply with human rights standards.
