Why San Francisco’s ban on face recognition is only the start of a long fight

San Francisco has become the first US city to ban the use of facial recognition by its government. But though privacy advocates are celebrating, the ordinance doesn’t stop private companies from using facial ID in ways that many people find creepy.

It might, however, be a first step.

The use of face recognition technology has become increasingly common, despite evidence that it frequently misidentifies people of color. Activists warn that it could lead to false arrests, or be used to track people’s whereabouts and target dissenters who have done nothing wrong.

In recent years, San Francisco officials have had to second-guess their use of high-tech surveillance tools. In 2009, police pulled over a driver, Denise Green, and held her at gunpoint while searching her car, all because a license plate reader wrongly said it had been stolen. Green sued and the city ended up paying her $495,000. Such episodes undoubtedly contributed to the pressure for a ban, though San Francisco’s police don’t currently use face recognition tech.

In many ways, though, it’s unsurprising that the tech-obsessed city is the first to restrict the technology. “[It’s like how] Silicon Valley parents are the most likely to ban screen time for their kids,” says Laura Noren, a data ethicist and vice president of privacy and trust at Obsidian Security. Other tech-savvy cities are likely to follow its lead, Noren says, which explains why nearby Oakland and Somerville in Massachusetts have already proposed similar bans. Still, she thinks a federal ban is unlikely under the Trump administration.

However, most people’s experience with facial analysis and recognition won’t happen because of police monitoring. Rather, it’ll be because of non-government endeavors, like school security cameras or stores that show consumers targeted ads. These uses come with the same risks of misidentification and discrimination, but bans like the one in San Francisco won’t prohibit them.

In one example of the problems that could arise, an 18-year-old sued Apple last month because, he alleged, a face recognition system in one of its stores falsely linked him to thefts. (According to Apple, it doesn’t use such systems in its stores.) In another case, tenants at Atlantic Plaza Towers, an apartment building in New York City, are fighting their landlord’s plan to replace a key-fob entry system with a face recognition system.