San Diego is joining the growing list of cities taking formal action to combat unregulated uses of emerging surveillance technologies by the police. Community-led efforts to tackle the potential civil liberties violations prompted by the installation of more than 3,000 police cameras throughout the city finally paid off on Friday, with San Diego’s city council voting unanimously to prevent the police from making any future surveillance decisions unilaterally.
The US Congress is now considering its comprehensive privacy legislation, the Americans for Privacy in Data Act, which, if passed, would supersede several state and local privacy laws. However, the draft version of the most recent draft of the bill contains an exception for local ordinances that seek to regulate electronic surveillance, including facial recognition software.