Live facial recognition puts New Orleans residents and visitors in danger
Live facial recognition could be coming to a street corner near you. Take action to stop it in New Orleans and nationwide.
The Letter
As concerned community members across the country, we ask New Orleans city council members and the Mayor to unequivocally reject the use of live facial recognition.
Facial recognition is dangerous technology that allows for mass-level tracking of everyday people. Any facial recognition program can be abused, not only by local police departments, but also by ICE, the FBI, the National Guard, and other agencies seeking to target immigrants, people of color, activists, abortion seekers, and LGBTQ+ people.
Authorizing police to use tools like live facial recognition could pose enormous dangers to your residents and visitors alike, potentially with significant consequences for tourism in your city. The impact of this tech could also reverberate far beyond New Orleans, leading to the spread of dystopian, racist surveillance across the U.S.
Live facial recognition has no place in our streets – not in New Orleans, and not in any other city. Please do everything in your power to protect people from this invasive technology. Our communities are watching.
Background
Live facial recognition is dangerous AI-powered surveillance technology that gives law enforcement the ability to identify you the moment you step onto the street and to track your every movement throughout the day—from visits to abortion clinics, to participation in protests, to private meetings with romantic partners and loved ones.
This technology poses enormous threats to our privacy and constitutional rights, and right now members of the New Orleans City Council want the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) to become one of the first departments in the nation to legally adopt live facial recognition.
The roll out of this authoritarian tech would supercharge the surveillance, raids, and militarized violence already devastating the lives of migrants, other communities of color, activists, and abortion seekers across New Orleans. This is especially true in the context of existing laws like Act 399, which mandates cooperation between local law enforcement and federal agencies like ICE.
A recent city council proposal to authorize live facial recognition has been tabled for now, but some members of the council are pushing to bring it back. If the ordinance becomes law, the consequences will extend far beyond the borders of the city of New Orleans, creating a terrifying domino effect of new forms of unchecked, unfettered surveillance across the country.
In 2020, New Orleans residents and city officials worked together to establish strong safeguards against surveillance overreach and racist policing practices.
Now, as the city once again faces a corporate-backed push to expand invasive surveillance, it’s crucial that we stand together and ensure the city council makes the right choice—a choice that won’t only impact New Orleans, but also the entire country. We’re calling on the mayor and city council to protect the safety and privacy of residents and visitors alike by rejecting the blanketing of New Orleans’ streets in dystopian surveillance.
Sign the petition to fight racist surveillance in New Orleans and nationwide.