Tech-savvy San Francisco on Tuesday became the first city in the United States to approve a ban on the government's use of facial recognition technology, The Hill reports.
The measure passed in an 8-1 vote by San Francisco's Board of Supervisors.
The "Stop Secret Surveillance Ordinance" bans the city government's use of facial-recognition software to identify someone based on a photograph or video clip and implements strict oversight for all surveillance tools used by the city.
"We can have good security without a security state and we can have good policing without a police state," Supervisor Aaron Peskin, the lawmaker who introduced the bill, said at Tuesday's hearing. "The thrust of this legislation is not to get rid of surveillance technology. It's to let the government and the public know how that technology is used."
More than 50 state or local police agencies in the U.S. have used facial-recognition software in an attempt to identify criminal suspects or to verify identities, but technological advances have raised concerns about civil liberties and racial bias.
Since last February, a number of tech companies have voiced issues with facial recognition.
A second reading of the act is expected to be approved at an upcoming board meeting.
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