Overview:
Face surveillance gives the government unprecedented power to track our every move. We're fighting—and winning.
The ACLU of Massachusetts' "Press Pause on Face Surveillance" campaign seeks to educate the public on the civil liberties concerns posed by face surveillance technology and the need for our state legislature prohibit the use of the technology to track us in public and strengthen existing protections in the law.
Timeline:
- June 2019: ACLUM launches Press Pause on Face Surveillance campaign to pass municipal bans and regulate government use of the technology
- June 2019: Somerville passes the first municipal ban on government use of face surveillance technology
- October 2019: ACLUM facial recognition test misidentifies 27 New England professional athletes – Patriots and Celtics players later join the call to regulate the tech
- December 2019: Brookline and Northampton pass municipal bans
- January 2020: Cambridge passes municipal ban
- February 2020: Springfield passes municipal ban
- June 2020: Boston passes municipal ban, becoming the largest city on the East Coast to ban face surveillance and ensuring more than 1 million Bay Staters are safe protected in 6 municipalities
- July 2020: Easthampton passes municipal ban
- December 2020: Massachusetts passes major police reform law, including limited regulations on face surveillance and creating a special commission to further explore the issue. These take effect in July 2021
- December 2021: Worcester is the 8th municipality in Massachusetts to ban government use of face surveillance
- March 2022: The Special Commission to Evaluate Government Use of Facial Recognition Technology in the Commonwealth release a report recommending the Massachusetts Legislature adopt new reforms on face surveillance
- January 2023: Lawmakers introduce bill to codify those recommendations