Following the recent announcement that the Mall of America was implementing a facial recognition system, Senators Omar Fateh (D-Minneapolis) and Eric Lucero (R-St. Michael) released the following statement:
“Many believe that the unauthorized collection, storage, mining and sharing of biometric facial recognition data with third parties is a first-degree invasion of privacy and a direct attack. Mall of America’s recent announcement about the deployment of facial recognition technology threatens the privacy of millions of Minnesotans and visitors to our state.” Lucero said. “Privacy rights and public policy concerns surrounding facial recognition technology remain unresolved, including high risks of abuse, data breaches, identity theft, liability and accountability. Input from citizens, civil rights and data practices advocates, and state and local government officials makes it clear that the continued deployment of facial recognition technology should not proceed until these concerns are addressed.”
“The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) “Facial recognition technology misidentifies people of color 40% of the time, which clearly opens the door to racial profiling, harassment and false arrests.” Fateh said. “Even if the system accurately identifies individuals, it is still not clear how that data will be stored, distributed, or protected from data leaks. Mall of America is our state’s flagship public institution and should not take this dramatic new step without explaining to its citizens how this works and why this invasion of privacy and violation of civil liberties is necessary. Legislators from all political walks of life have serious doubts about the mall and its technology vendor and should consider legislation to regulate or ban this alarming new technology. We look forward to addressing these concerns as soon as possible, including if a special session is called later this year.”
