The Portland City Council has passed the strictest ban on facial recognition technology in the nation, barring the use of the software by city bureaus and restricting its use by private businesses.
The ban prohibits city agencies from using facial recognition technology, something cities including Oakland, San Francisco, and the Boston suburb of Somerville have also done amid concerns over infringement of people’s privacy and bias in the algorithm. Portland’s rule will also restrict use of the technology by the private sector, a first in the nation.
The private sector ban bars business from using facial recognition technology in public areas within Portland city limits. For example, a private business could not have a camera equipped with the technology capturing people on a public sidewalk.
The facial recognition ban, introduced jointly by Mayor Ted Wheeler and Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty Wednesday, passed unanimously.
“We own our privacy,” Hardesty said before voting. “And it’s our obligation to make sure that we’re not allowing people to gather it up secretly and sell it for profit or fear-based activity.”
Hardesty had championed the policy since last fall when the council took its first steps to enact the far-reaching ban. Hardesty said at the time she began thinking about limiting private sector use after learning that Amazon had sold its facial recognition program to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, which allowed police to identify suspects from surveillance footage or photographs.
The Portland Police Bureau has said it does not use facial recognition technology.
This story will be updated.
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