{"id":6113,"date":"2021-06-02T15:25:20","date_gmt":"2021-06-02T20:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.webfxonline.com\/?p=6113"},"modified":"2021-06-02T15:25:22","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T20:25:22","slug":"washingtons-largest-county-bans-government-use-of-facial-recognition-software","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.webfxonline.com\/?p=6113","title":{"rendered":"Washington&#8217;s largest county bans government use of facial recognition software"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The most populous county in Washington state has become the first in the nation to ban government use of facial recognition software.<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"mailto:?subject=Washington%20state%27s%20King%20County%20bans%20facial%20recognition&amp;body=I%20thought%20you%20would%20be%20interested%20in%20this%20video%20I%20found%20on%20MSN%3a%20Washington%20state%27s%20King%20County%20bans%20facial%20recognition%20http%3a%2f%2fa.msn.com%2f01%2fen-us%2fAAKDqNI%3focid%3dse\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><div class=\"mtz-download-btn\" vid=\"https:\/\/prod-streaming-video-msn-com.akamaized.net\/1f79d640-68b2-4489-bcd2-a91f1e7653c4\/791ef6b2-7bba-49f1-b98f-885d9d792fb9.mp4\">                 <span>Download<\/span>                 <div class=\"mtz-download-btn-dropdown\"><div class=\"mtz-download-btn-dropdown-item\" quality=\"720\">720<\/div>         <\/div>             <\/div><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"360\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 640 \/ 360;\" width=\"640\" autoplay controls src=\"https:\/\/www.webfxonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/1622665071366-1.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>King County, which comprises the greater Seattle area and is home to some 2.3 million people, announced Tuesday that a proposal to ban government agencies use of facial recognition software had been approved by a vote of 9-0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The use of facial recognition technology by government agencies poses distinct threats to our residents, including potential misidentification, bias, and the erosion of our civil liberties,&#8221; council member Jeanne Kohl-Welles, the legislation&#8217;s primary sponsor, said in a statement. &#8220;The use or misuse of these technologies has potentially devastating consequences which the new ordinance will help to prevent.&#8221;<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"graphical user interface: AA display shows a facial recognition system for law enforcement during the NVIDIA GPU Technology Conference, which showcases artificial intelligence, deep learning, virtual reality and autonomous machines, in Washington, DC, Nov. 1, 2017.\" src=\"https:\/\/img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net\/tenant\/amp\/entityid\/AAKDAqM.img?h=526&amp;w=799&amp;m=6&amp;q=60&amp;o=f&amp;l=f&amp;x=505&amp;y=302\">\u00a9 Saul Loeb\/AFP via Getty Images, FILE&nbsp;AA display shows a facial recognition system for law enforcement during the NVIDIA GPU Technology Conference, which showcases artificial intelligence, deep learning, virtual reality and autonomous machines, in Washington, DC, Nov. 1, 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Facial recognition software, especially when used by law enforcement agencies, has been embroiled in controversy for years after multiple studies pointed to the potential of racial bias and false negatives. Last summer, a Black man in Michigan was\u00a0wrongfully arrested and detained\u00a0after facial recognition technology incorrectly identified him as a shoplifting suspect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A sweeping\u00a02019 study\u00a0from the U.S. Department of Commerce\u2019s National Institute of Standards and Technology found a majority of facial recognition software on the market had higher rates of false positive matches for Asian and Black faces compared to white faces. A separate\u00a02019 study from the U.K.\u00a0found that 81% of suspects flagged by the facial recognition technology used by London&#8217;s Metropolitan Police force were innocent.<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"a bridge over a road: A security camera is shown at a motel in Kent, Wash., March 4, 2020.\" src=\"https:\/\/img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net\/tenant\/amp\/entityid\/AAKDFlV.img?h=600&amp;w=799&amp;m=6&amp;q=60&amp;o=f&amp;l=f\">\u00a9 Ted S. Warren\/AP, FILE\u00a0A security camera is shown at a motel in Kent, Wash., March 4, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jennifer Lee of the American Civil Liberties Union Washington branch, an agency that has long fought for the ban, called it a &#8220;huge win&#8221; for King County residents and &#8220;an important step forward in the effort to stop government use of this harmful and racist technology.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alyssa Weed, the president of the League of Women Voters for Seattle-King County, also lauded the council for doing the &#8220;right thing.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s rare to have such unequivocal data showing that a law enforcement &#8216;tool&#8217; creates such inequitable outcomes,&#8221; Weed said in a statement. &#8220;The King County Council did the right thing by restricting the use of facial recognition technology that is likely to jeopardize the safety and liberty of people with darker skin, people who are transgender, and other minoritized community members.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The passage of the legislation in King County is also notable as it is home to Amazon and Microsoft, two major developers of facial recognition technology. Both companies have already restricted police-use of their softwares, however, after pressure from advocates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While she celebrated the &#8220;win&#8221; in King County, Lee of the ACLU went on to call for a federal ban on government use of the software.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>The most populous county in Washington state has become the first in the nation to ban government use of facial recognition software. Download 720 King County, which comprises the greater Seattle area and is home <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.webfxonline.com\/?p=6113\" title=\"Washington&#8217;s largest county bans government use of facial recognition software\">[read more]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6113","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tech"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.11 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Washington&#039;s largest county bans government use of facial recognition software -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.webfxonline.com\/?p=6113\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Washington&#039;s largest county bans government use of facial recognition software -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The most populous county in Washington state has become the first in the nation to ban government use of facial recognition software. 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