Announced last week, Portland City Council has banned both personal and public use of facial recognition software. This ban will come into effect at the start of 2021 and the council will fine anyone caught using such technologies $1,000 a day of use. Portland is the fourth city to pass such laws alongside San Fransisco, Oakland and Boston. However, Portland’s law is the first to include corporations as well.
The council voted unanimously for the law to be passed when it received hundreds of messages ridiculing stores for using facial recognition to identify alleged shoplifters.