Flathead County is creating a strong resistance to Digital ID and Facial Recognition. Several residents are NOT HAPPY with Senate Bill 397 and you can read the reasons why below! The following Editorial was penned by Rachael Neumann of Flathead County.
SB397 – Is a Bad Bill! (Check it out by clicking here).
AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE FACIAL RECOGNITION FOR 6 GOVERNMENT USE ACT
“This bill in a nutshell appears to be trying to limit the facial recognition data collection so just LEOs can obtain a warrant and get information.
Appears to be is the key phrase. In reality, this is still allowing for data collection in mass scale.
Here are some major concerns:
- The biggest problem is the fact that the cameras and sensors are still being used. According to Aman Jabbi, who is the resident expert on this since he actually was involved in creating the technology, the cameras and sensors must be banned entirely – not just limited, as the data is still being collected and going to a cloud somewhere outside the control of local governments and LEOS.
- It provides a section for law enforcement to obtain a warrant to retrieve facial recognition data. Who are they obtaining the data from? And if they can obtain data, it obviously is being collected 365/24/7 and going to a cloud somewhere. This data will still be utilized by someone outside the control of LEOs. I know LEOs appear to like this technology, but in reality this is a digital prison that is being built in the name of “safety and security.”
- Read all the section on 3rd parties. While there appears to be an attempt in this bill to reign in 365/24/7 surveillance, this is a “red herring” as Jabbi likes to say. Here are some major concerns:
- If there is continuous facial recognition technology being used, how would an individual even know to bring a lawsuit against these companies? And would it be up to the individual to bring a lawsuit against these companies (which is time consuming and mostly expensive….something the average Montanan would not be able to do)? And even if an individual DID win a lawsuit – the damage has already been done and their data is already out in the cloud somewhere to be used by someone.
- These are just the beginning of my concerns with this bill. In reality, all cameras and sensors need to be banned….not just trying to reign in data collection, since this is already being done and without anyone knowing who is collecting it, where it is going, and why it is even being used…particularly the cameras embedded with lights along highways, streets, etc. And no one seems to be claiming jurisdiction for these – it’s always someone else’s jurisdiction.”
Rachael Neumann
