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Privacy September 27, 2026
Facial Recognition Bans Timeline
A growing number of jurisdictions are banning or restricting facial recognition technology. This represents the most significant pushback against a specific surveillance technology in recent history.
US city and county bans
- San Francisco, CA (2019): First major US city to ban government use of facial recognition
- Somerville, MA (2019): Second US city to ban
- Oakland, CA (2019): City council unanimously banned government use
- Boston, MA (2020): Banned city use of facial recognition
- Portland, OR (2020): Banned both government AND private use in public places
- King County, WA (2021): County-wide ban on government use
- Minneapolis, MN (2021): Banned police use
- New Orleans, LA (2022): City council banned government use
- Baltimore, MD (2022): Banned private use by most businesses
US state-level action
- Illinois (BIPA): Not a ban, but the Biometric Information Privacy Act requires consent before biometric data collection. Private right of action enables lawsuits. Has produced the largest biometric privacy settlements.
- Washington state: Requires accountability reports for government facial recognition use
- Virginia: Restricts local police use without legislative authorization
- Massachusetts: Multiple cities have enacted bans under state home rule authority
International
- EU AI Act (2024): Heavily restricts real-time biometric identification in public spaces
- Belgium: Data protection authority ruled facial recognition in public spaces violates GDPR
- UK: Legal challenges to Met Police live facial recognition ongoing
The arguments
For bans:
- Accuracy disparities across demographics (racial bias)
- Chilling effect on free expression and assembly
- Mass surveillance without consent
- No evidence of significant crime reduction
- Potential for abuse by authoritarian governments
- Irreversibility of biometric data collection
Against bans:
- Tool for solving serious crimes
- Helps find missing persons
- Can identify suspects from camera footage
- Technology is improving and becoming more accurate
What’s next
The trend toward restriction is growing. As facial recognition becomes more capable AND more controversial, the policy debate intensifies. The cameras on Sentinel’s map represent the hardware. Facial recognition capability determines what that hardware can do.