Facial recognition: Skeletons in the closet

In this fortnight’s episode of “What do privacy-violating devices like the [Amazon Ring](https://www.businessinsider.com.au/amazon-ring-require-police-advertise-for-free-ring-cameras-2019-7?r=US&IR=T%5D(https://www.businessinsider.com.au/amazon-ring-require-police-advertise-for-free-ring-cameras-2019-7 "business insider link") really mean for our communities?”, this article is great reading on the histories, ideologies and infrastructures that make the facial-recognition nightmare possible. And those histories aren’t exactly rainbows and sunshine – the application of facial recognition technology is deeply rooted in xenophobic and settler-colonialist values.

There have recently been some very important victories in today’s fight against the use of facial recognition by activists and grassroots organisers in some parts of the US. The argument here, though, is that unless the surveillance infrastructure that supports facial recognition is also challenged, it won’t be enough to win today’s fight – the skeleton in the closet can simply be resurrected.

“In one election’s time, if a nativist wind blows the wrong way, that [ban] might no longer be the case. And if the city was using the technology prior to banning it and has left the infrastructure in place, switched on and recording, it will be able to surveil people not only in the future but in the past to boot.”

It’s worth keeping in mind as the wheels start turning here in Australia: laws that are knocked back now due to lack of “adequate safeguards” are bound to resurface again soon.