The bill prohibits state and local governments from using facial recognition in most circumstances
Maine is one step closer to becoming the first state in the nation to adopt comprehensive, statewide regulations on the use of facial recognition by public employees and officials. LD 1585 passed in both the House and Senate yesterday and will now move between both chambers for final enactment. The bill has the support of the Maine State Police, Maine Department of Public Safety, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Maine.
Kade Crockford, ACLU of Massachusetts, Technology for Liberty Program director, praised Maine’s leadership role on this issue. “By passing this legislation, Maine affirms its status as a leader in the nationwide movement to maintain democratic control over surveillance technologies that pose serious threats to our civil rights and civil liberties. Surveillance isn’t safety, especially when the technology at issue exhibits racial or gender bias. Mainers will be safer when this bill is signed into law, and can feel proud that their state government is showing the way for the nation.”
Michael Kebede, Policy Counsel of the ACLU of Maine, said, “At its core, this bill is about protecting democracy itself. Unregulated, facial recognition leaves Mainers open to unprecedented surveillance and threatens core constitutional rights of privacy, expression and assembly. We applaud Maine lawmakers for taking this significant step and showing other states that we the people, and not the technology, are in control of our rights and liberties.”
