Why did the Tech hub of San Francisco ban Facial Recognition?

The debate around the ethical use of technology takes a new turn

To put it simply… the fledgling technology is “Racist.” Not the best course of action for the tech hub city as the proponents of technology would argue, but San Francisco’s metropolis’ Board of Supervisors has banned the use of facial recognition by any of its 53 departments — in turn becoming the first city in the U.S to pass such a ban. The ban came despite the fact that none of the city agencies currently use this technology.

Looking in retrospect, there must be some compelling reason to ban facial recognition technology in a place that calls itself the home of tech innovative spirit. Silicon Valley is much well-known to embrace technology than to regulate it or shun it completely like in this case.

Although facial recognition is a pretty widely understood term these days — for people who either have no interest in technology or don’t have the latest version Apple iPhone which unlocks with Face ID, it is the technology by which you can identify a person in a picture or a video by analyzing their facial features. Well, at least that’s what its intended purpose is supposed to be.