One city banning its law enforcement from making use of facial recognition won’t necessarily stop a sheriff’s department from creating a surveillance dragnet — nor would it necessarily stop a private institution within a city from enacting its own facial-recognition program. For now, the bans don’t touch on third-party companies whose data is used by facial-recognition algorithms.
My wondering is what this means for third-party applications in schools? In the community? It still feels like the cat might be out of the bag? I fear that some vendors will continue to cash in and work as mercenaries. I hope I am wrong.
I am also taking by the argument that we need to focus on surveillance, not just facial recognition.
Hey Aaron, thanks for the feedback.
I agree that we need to think more about data, data-privacy, surveillance, and tying all of these loose threads together. I agree that facial recognition is a problem, but I agree with your assessment that the “cat may be out of the bag.”
I think about students using digital texts, tools, and spaces in early learning environments…and have concerns about where that data goes. As an example, my daughter is no longer at one of her first early childhood centers. Who controls the photos and messages the teachers sent us over the years using SeeSaw of her playing outside? Where does that data go? What happens in 15 years (or sooner) when SeeSaw sells out, is hacked, or shuts down. Where does all of that content go?