New York City’s police department is facing criticism over its use of facial recognition technology, with Amnesty International alleging the NYPD’s practices violate the privacy rights of thousands of residents. The accusations stem from records obtained by Amnesty International and the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP) following a five-year lawsuit against the NYPD.
The records reveal what the organizations call alarming surveillance abuses targeting protesters and communities of color, including the frequent use of facial recognition technology. An analysis of over 2,700 documents by Amnesty and STOP, a New York-based privacy and civil rights group, indicates that the NYPD has deployed facial recognition in ways that subject city residents to “intrusive, flawed, and deeply discriminatory” surveillance.
The documents reportedly show the technology was used to identify individuals based on unsolicited reports from the public, where some people were deemed “suspicious” for speaking a different language or wearing clothing with distinctive cultural elements.
Michelle Daley, Executive Director of STOP, stated that these “costly, error-prone, and biased” technologies waste billions of dollars. She emphasized that the NYPD’s surveillance puts New Yorkers at risk of false arrest, deportation, or worse. Daley added, “It’s time for New Yorkers to see the dystopian ways that the NYPD is surveilling all of us.”
Amnesty International and STOP argue that facial recognition technology violates the right to privacy by collecting mass data images without knowledge or consent. They further contend that the technology suffers from racial bias, disproportionately targeting Black and Brown communities, and restricts peaceful protest and freedom of expression through its chilling effect. Hundreds of organizations reportedly consider the technology unlawful for these reasons.
