The NYDP has been aggressively criticized for their alleged abuse of facial recognition tools and there have been over 100 requests made that have asked for documents to be revealed to the public that detail their use of facial recognition technology. People have wondered if the department is using this technology, to what extent it's being utilized? What is the oversight surrounding the use of this technology? How are officers being trained to use this technology? And so on.
But the NYPD has reportedly been lagging in their efforts to be forthcoming with that information, despite being asked for years now to reveal documents that detail what their procedures are surrounding facial recognition technology.
Facial recognition technology continues to creep up, making its way into a variety of public arenas, including airports, and other regions.
For one traveler who recently boarded a flight to Mexico, she was surprised when nobody was around at the gate to check her passport, but she was required to look into a camera before the gate would open; she wasn't familiar with the new fully-integrated biometric self-boarding gate that's been adopted and while some travelers might enjoy the convenience, others are nervous about what they see as a privacy invasion.
JetBlue later responded to criticism about the program insisting that travelers do have the option to opt out if they want to. Border authorities have insisted that the exit scan photos are only held for a maximum of 14 days, but how long partner airlines might hold onto the data is not as clear. JetBlue has claimed that they don't have direct access to the photos taken and that they don't store them, but they do transmit those photos to Customs and Border Protection. CBP have allegedly claimed that they are the only ones who have access to this data.
As the discontent for facial recognition continues, the more that people become aware of it, there are some regions that might ban it outright such as San Francisco that might become the first city to make such a move.
By 2020 it's expected that this market will reach $9 billion or more. It's been projected that North America will have the largest market share, while the Asia-Pacific region is expected to be the fastest growing.
