Three Democratic congresswomen in United States are pushing for a ban on the use of biometric and facial recognition technology in federally funded public and assisted housing with the aim of “protecting tenants from biased surveillance technology.”
The No Biometric Barriers Housing Act was introduced by Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-Massachusetts), Yvette Clarke (D-New York) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) amid a growing national debate about the role of facial recognition technology in society, particularly by law enforcement.
There is currently no federal law on the books regulating the use of facial recognition technology by police departments or other public institutions, such as housing funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This makes Pressley’s bill the first to address what technology landlords can impose on residents.
“Vulnerable communities are constantly being policed, profiled, and punished, and facial recognition technology will only make it worse,” Pressley said in a statement.
“Program biases misidentify women and people of color and yet, the technology continues to go unregulated,” she added, referring to research and testing that shows facial recognition technology is less accurate for women and people of color.
