Tech Companies Mask Facial Recognition Technology from Law Enforcement

Facing multi-year, high profile campaigns about the dangers of facial recognition from the ACLU and other civil rights groups and additional pressure in the wake of protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd, IBM, Amazon, and Microsoft in 2021 announced they would no longer sell facial recognition technology to law enforcement agencies. The ACLU noted that it was glad that the companies were “finally recognizing the dangers face recognition poses to Black and Brown communities and civil rights more broadly” and called for even more action to stop use of this dangerous surveillance technology.